The finalists with Vijay Chitnis and National Coaches Natalie Grainger & Mike Puertas

US Titles for Lorentzen & Gordon
Mike Puertas reports ...

The men's final started with Gilly lane taking the initiative and controlling the T, at 4-0 it looked like Gilly was going to be a hand full for Chris, but a combination of steady play, great retrieving and
Gilly finding the tin a little to often gave Chris the first game 10-9.

The second game was a 9-0 blowout as Chris maintained his focus while Gilly became impatient and error prone. The Third game followed the same pattern with flashes of brilliance from both players, but ultimately the consistent play of Gordon paid off.

The Ladies final was all Lorentzen up until the third game when the racquet skills of Lange started to pay dividends, Lorentzen showed why she has been the top US U19 player with a determined fight back to take the match with a 10-8 scoreline in the third.
  

Boys Semi-Finalists
McGuinness, Fulham, Gordon, Lane

Girls Semi-Finalists
Lange, Lorentzen, Siebert, Greer

Chris Gordon

Lily Lorentzen

Siebert Suffers in Semis

Semi final day at the Round Hill Club saw Amanda Siebert the no.2 seed and National U19 Champion downed in 3 straight forward games by Kristen Lange from Seattle. Kristen showed up looking sharp and fit and Amanda struggled to get going hitting too many into the middle allowing Kristen to dominate in the front. 

In the other ladies semi, Lily Lorentzen was pushed to four games by the up and coming U19 National finalist, Logan Greer. Logan is a great athlete and plays a good all round game and it took the Harvard No.1 to knuckle down and stem the tide to advance to the
finals.

In the men's draw Chris Gordon easily moved past John Fulham from Boston, who put up a spirited effort.

Chris and John both looked to be having a good time on court but the more experienced Gordon picked his times to shoot and Fulham was no match. In the other men's semi, Gilly Lane, Penn, game out the gates firing and was too sharp for a sluggish McGuiness. The 2nd was a little tighter, but Lane slowed the pace at times and
McGuiness was unable to deal with the change of pace.  He easily took the 3rd.

The finals promise to be great matches, with the former No.1 and No.2 on the US Junior Team, Lily Lorentzen and Kristen Lange facing off against each other and Chris Gordon and Gilly Lane replaying their U19 Junior Final a few years ago. That was a 5 game thriller that Gordon came through to win. He is a much more mature player now, but Gilly is up for the match.
 

US Juniors through to Semis

The women's 2nd round saw 4 of the 8 girls that went to Belgium for the World Juniors through to the semi finals. Lily Lorentzen put an end to Olivia Blatchford's run, but she was pushed hard to win the last game 9/7. Logan Greer was too strong for Alia Aziz, Logan is hot after a great run in the Junior Nationals where she lost to Amanda Siebert in the finals. Amanda Siebert played some very controlled squash and had a comfortable win over Kaitlin Russel.

Kristen Lange had the toughest match of the 2nd round against Julia Drury, Dartmouth. Kristen started out fast and strong, but Julia hung in and pushed the match to 4 games and almost a 5th, but the fiesty Lange pulled through.

In the men's 2nd round, Chris Gordon, currently ranked no.89 in the world on the PSA rankings, brushed aside Travis Judson on his way through to the semis. Gilly Lane, Penn, looked strong and showed that he is one of America's top college players by beating Todd Ruth in 3 games. Chris Callis had a hard time keeping the ball above the tin at times and John Fulham took full advantage hitting some terrific winners in the front left court. Fulham came through in 4 games.

Trevor McGuiness, the current U19 Champion lost his focus in the 3rd game against CJ Plimpton but ultimately came through in relative ease to win 3-1. 
  

Stellar Performance by the juniors on the first day of the U23 US Championships.

It was a big day for 13 year old Olivia Blatchford from New York. She overcame an opponent that holds the no.8 position on the Princeton Squash Team, Carly Gabrowski. Through good attacking squash and a gutsy performance in tight games she managed to outmanoeuver her more mature opponent.

She now has the opportunity to test her skills against the former U19 US Champion and current Harvard No.1, Lily Lorentzen. Alia Aziz calmly beat her opponent Niki Clement from Bowden, Caitlin Russel, Penn came back from 2/0 down against Maggie O'Toole, Princton in a titanic 5 game match. Britt Hebden managed to sneak a game off the athletic Dartmouth No.1, Julia Drury.

In the men's draw, the 4 first round matches were all 3/0 victories in favour of the U19 Boys Squad preparing to go to New Zealand for the World Junior Championships. The boys showed up fit and sharp and were too much to handle for their college opponents.