PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania squash teams swept Princeton in an exciting pair of matches at the Penn Squash Center on Sunday.
 
The Quakers' top-ranked men gained a 6-3 victory over the second-ranked Tigers, in the process winning the outright Ivy League title as both teams entered Sunday's match unbeaten in Ivy play.
 
On the women's side, the fifth-ranked Quakers emerged with a 5-4 victory over the third-ranked Tigers for the program's first win over Princeton since 2017.
 
Men's Recap
Penn got out to a 2-1 lead after the first wave of matches, as Nick Spizzirri was a straight-game winner at No. 2 and Varun Chitturi won in four games at No. 8 to offset Dana Santry's three-game loss at No. 6. Nathan Kueh and Omar Hafez then won in straight sets to start the second wave, putting the Quakers on the verge of the title, but a testy five-game match at No. 7 ended with Princeton's Aly Ibrahim overcoming a 2-1 deficit to defeat Penn's Abdelrahman Dweek, 3-2.
 
That left it to Marwan Abdelsalam on the next court over, and the freshman left nothing to chance with a straight-game win at No. 4 that gave the Quakers the insurmountable fifth point. Mere minutes later, Salman Khalil won his match in straight games at No. 1 on the main court, before Roger Baddour fell in four at No. 9 to end the day.
 
Men's Results – #1 Penn 6, #2 Princeton 3
1. Salman Khalil (Pe) def. Ahmed Wael (Rr), 3-0 (11-2, 11-7, 11-3)
2. Nick Spizzirri (Pe) def. Avi Agarwal (Pr), 3-0 (11-9, 12-10, 11-7)
3. Omar Hafez (Pe) def. Thomas Rosini (Pr), 3-0 (11-5, 11-3, 11-5)
4. Marwan Abdelsalam (Pe) def. Zain Ahmed (Pr), 3-0 (11-8, 11-6, 11-4)
5. Nathan Kueh (Pe) def. Hassan Khalil (Pr), 3-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-4)
6. Hollis Robertson (Pr) def. Dana Santry (Pe), 3-0 (11-7, 11-5, 11-6)
7. Aly Ibrahim (Pr) def. Abdelrahman Dweek (Pe), 3-2 (10-12, 11-7, 7-11, 11-6, 11-5)
8. Varun Chitturi (Pe) def. Federico Sosa (Pr), 3-1 (11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 11-6)
9. Gordon Lam (Pr) def. Roger Baddour (Pe), 3-1 (7-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-4)
 
Women's Recap
Sunday's first match went to the Tigers, but then Franka Vidovic won in four games at No. 2 and Jana Dweek earned a huge point with a five-game victory at No. 6. The second wave proved to be where the match was won for the Quakers, thanks largely by the incredible comeback of Yoshna Singh at No. 7. The senior lost her first two games, 11-3 and 11-2, but instead of being counted out she rebounded to win the next three games (11-6, 11-3, 11-2) for a 3-2 victory. At the same time, Sohaila Ismail won in straight games at No. 2 on the main court, and the Quakers led 4-1.
 
The Tigers didn't go quietly. Caroline Eielson swept Allie Stoddard at No. 5 and Hermioine Cao beat Natasha Pensler in four to get the Tigers within 4-3, with two matches still in the balance. Ultimately, it was freshman Savannah Ingledew who got the final point for the Red and Blue, as she won her first two games (11-6, 11-8); lost her next two games (11-8, 11-8); and then won Game 5—after Princeton's Charlotte Bell fought off four match points—by an 11-9 score at No. 4.
 
On the main court, Malak Khafagy and recent CSA Individuals champion Zeina Zein split the first two games at No. 1 but Khafagy needed a lengthy break after the second game to tend to an injury. She came back and the duo played an epic third game that Zein won, 15-13. Khafagy had nothing left after that and fell in the fourth game, 11-2.
 
Women's Results – #5 Penn 5, #3 Princeton 4
1. Zeina Zein (Pr) def. Malak Khafagy (Pe), 3-1 (11-9, 9-11, 15-13, 11-2)
2. Franka Vidovic (Pe) def. Emma Trauber (Pr), 3-1 (12-10, 10-12, 11-4, 12-10
3. Sohaila Ismail (Pe) def. Molly Chadwick (Pr), 3-0 (11-4, 11-2, 11-7)
4. Savannah Ingledew (Pe) def. Charlotte Bell (Pr), 3-2 (11-6, 11-8, 8-11, 8-11, 11-9)
5. Caroline Eielson (Pr) def. Allie Stoddard (Pe), 3-0 (12-10, 12-10, 11-8)
6. Jana Dweek (Pe) def. Katherine Sapinski (Pr), 3-2 (11-5, 13-11, 8-11, 4-11, 11-7)
7. Yoshna Singh (Pe) def. Sonya Sasson (Pr), 3-2 (3-11, 2-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-2)
8. Liyen Teoh (Pr) def. Hailey Wong, 3-0 (11-5, 11-7, 11-9)
9. Hermione Cao (Pr) def. Natasha Pensler (Pe), 3-1 (11-9, 11-8, 2-11, 11-7)
 
Up Next
The Quakers will close out their regular seasons on Thursday, Feb. 20 when they make the short trip North on 33rd Street to face University City rival Drexel.
 
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