NEW YORK CITY – University of Pennsylvania men's squash captain Omar Hafez advanced to Tuesday's men's championship match at the College Squash Association (CSA) Individuals after defeating third-seeded Joachim Chuah (Trinity) in the semifinals, 3-1.

Hafez will take on the No. 4 seed, Trinity's Muhammad Ashab Irfan, in tomorrow's championship match set for 2:15 p.m. He is looking to become the second straight Penn player to win the CSA Individuals crown, after Salman Khalil won the event last year.
 
On Monday, Chuah had an early 5-2 lead in the first game as the second-seeded Hafez had his back against the wall. However, Penn's senior captain did not back down and went on to score the next nine points to win the first game, 11-5.
 
Hafez continued to flourish in the second game as he jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back, taking the second game, 11-4.
 
Down 2-0 in games, Chuah looked to mount a comeback in the third game as he went on to win, 11-3.
 
With Chuah cutting into the lead and dominating the third game, Hafez once again faced adversity but overcame it. He took a 2-0 lead in the fourth game, but Chuah would not surrender easily, tying the game 2-2. The two players went back and forth for the next few points before Chuah exited with a blood injury.
 
At that point, the score read 5-4 in favor of Hafez as he was beginning to find his groove again. Once Chuah returned to the court after a few minutes, Hafez did not miss a beat as he scored the next three points and led 8-4 after an impressive rally that lasted more than two minutes. Hafez then scored the final three points and won the fourth game, 11-4.
 
RESULTS:
Semifinals
  #2 Omar Hafez def. #3 Joachim Chuah (Trinity), 3-1 (11-5, 11-4, 3-11, 11-4)