Trinity Men's Squash Ranked No. 3 Nationally Entering Season Opener Against Bates Saturday by David Kingsley November 11, 2014 Hartford, Conn.
- The Trinity College men's squash team, coached by Paul Assaiante
(21st Season), is ranked No. 3 in the 2014-15 College Squash
Association (CSA) Men's Pre-Season National Poll. The Bantams reached
the 2013-14 College Squash Association (CSA) National Championship
Finals for the 18th consecutive season, finishing as the National
Runner-Up after a loss to Harvard in the final match. The Bantams
also captured their eighth consecutive New England Small College
Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championship crown in February and closed
team competition with an 18-2 overall record. Trinity opens the season
on November 15 against Bates.
"I see up to nine teams who can be a factor in determining the National
Champion this year," said Assaiante. "We have a challenging
schedule with matches against each of the nation's top 11 teams.
There is depth in college squash now that we have never seen before,
while our team is not deep in terms of sheer numbers but we do have a
wealth of experience among our veterans. We will do our best to
once again be there at the end."
Trinity will rely heavily on an outstanding senior class that makes up
two thirds of the team's starting lineup for both leadership and
on-court performance. Led by co-captains Moustafa Hamada
(Alexandria, Egypt) and Karan Malik (Bangalore, India), six seniors
combined for an 83-35 record in 2013-14. Three-time All-American
Miled Zarazua (Mexico City, Mexico) is back at the top spot looking to
build on a 9-9 mark in dual matches recorded against the nation's best
players in his debut season as the No. 1 player a year ago. Zarazua was
ranked No. 18 nationally at the end of his junior season. Malik
is Trinity's highest-ranked returner, having finished 2013-14 as the
nation's 13th-best player according to the CSA Rankings, and should be
a solid No. 2 once again. Malik is 24-12 in two seasons, including a
14-8 mark last year, and has earned All-American honors the last two
campaigns. Hamada, Vrishab Kotian (Mumbai, India), ranked No. 25
nationally in 2013-14, and Elroy Leong (Selangor, Malaysia) are
consistent and reliable performers in the middle. Hamada was 17-3
as a junior and is 48-8 in his career, while Kotian made a successful
jump to the No. 3 spot last year with a 16-6 mark. Leong improved
drastically from 2012-13 to last year, finishing 14-4 in the middle of
the ladder. Senior John Lamont (Montreal, Quebec) is 25-3 in
theree seasons, and senior Pranay Merchant (Mumbai, India) has improved
each season and will challenge for playing time once again this winter.
Junior Zeyad Elshorafy (Cairo, Egypt) has a stellar winning percentage
of 39-3 in two seasons, and classmate Juan Vargas (Bogota, Colombia)
will slide right into the top half of the ladder when he returns from a
semester abroad in January. Vargas was 14-5 last season and held
the nation's No. 22 ranking among individuals at the end of the
winter. Sophomore Affeeq Ismail (Kuching, Malaysia) enjoyed a
fantastic rookie campaign after arriving in January, going 18-5,
including a fine 4-1 performance in the CSA National Singles
Championships to end the year, and looks to make an even greater
contribution with a full pre-season to prepare this year.
First-year James Evans (Maidstone, England) should make an immediate
contribution.
