Women's Squash Ranked No. 3

The Trinity College Women's Squash team begins its season with high expectations after receiving a No. 3 preseason ranking in the College Squash Association (CSA) National Championship Pre-Season Poll. The Bantams are ranked behind No. 1 Princeton University, and no. 2 Harvard University. No. 8 Williams College is the only other New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) representative in the top 10 which is otherwise loaded with Ivy League teams. The Bantams did not graduate anyone from their CSA Team Championships roster last year.

This winter, the Bantams will be looking to improve upon last year's strong season. The team finished the 2008-2009 season 12-3 and finished 3rd in the National Team Championships (The Howe Cup), the program's best finish in the last three years. The Bantams qualified for the Howe Cup for the 14th straight season and are three-time defending NESCAC Champions. Trinity won the Howe Cup in 2002 and 2003, following undefeated seasons.

The Bantams also placed three individual players in the top 25 of the CSA Individual Pre-Season Rankings, all three of whom are returning All-Americans. No. 1 Nour Bahgat '12 is followed by No. 12 Nayelly Hernandez '10 and No. 22 Tehani Guruge '10.

Bahgat, the defending CSA Singles Champion, finished her first season with an individual record of 17-0, matching the program's best individual single-season record. Robyn Williams '11 advanced to the semifinals of the "B" bracket of CSA Singles individual competition and Emily Paton '10 advanced to the quarterfinals.

Baghat was named All-American, All-NESCAC, and the NESCAC Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year. She was joined by senior captain Jo-Ann Jee and Nayelly Hernandez on the All-NESCAC first team. Tehani Guruge, Emery Holton '11, and Pamela Jimenez '12 represented the Bantams on the second team.

The team looks to receive contributions from a strong incoming class, including First-years Michelle Williams, Robyn Hodgson, McCrea Davidson, and Kate Malakoff.

The Bantams play their first matches of the season at Trinity on Dec. 12 against Columbia, Williams, and Mount Holyoke at 10:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 3:00 p.m. respectively. Later in the season, the Bantams will play crucial home games against the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University before travelling to Princeton and Yale, the last two matches before the CSA Tournaments. The Bantams defeated Pennsylvania last year 5-4 in the Howe Cup Third Place Match. The team plays most of its matches in early December and late January, before trying to defend its NESCAC title February 5th to 7th and competing in the CSA Championships later that month.