Female Player of the Year, Runner-Up: Amanda Sobhy

Throughout her career in Cambridge, junior Amanda Sobhy has proven one thing time and time again: when she walks onto the squash court, she’s there to win.

For the third straight year, Sobhy cruised through the CSA Individual National Championships on her way to a Ramsay Cup victory. With the triumph, Sobhy became the first player in Harvard history to win the Ramsay Cup three times.

“Winning the third national title is a great feeling,” Sobhy said. “It’s not only winning for me, but also winning for Harvard, so it’s a nice feeling to know that I have done something great for myself and for the school.”

However, it’s not just that Sobhy consistently wins; it’s how she does it.

In this year’s national championship finals, Sobhy easily swept her opponent in straight sets. Despite finding herself in early deficits in two of the games, the score wasn’t even close, as Sobhy calmly dispatched her opponent with scores of 11-6, 11-5, and 11-3.

“[Sobhy is] just a physical beast,” Harvard coach Mike Way said. “When you’re thinking from an athletic point of view, there’s just no area where she doesn’t excel, and look how high she sets the bar…. The most impressive thing about her is her work ethic. Her work ethic is ridiculous.”

Sobhy finished the regular season with a perfect 17-0 record, and not a single collegiate player was able to take a game off her the entire season. She holds a perfect 47-0 career record, and shows no sign of stopping as she heads into her senior season.

“The biggest thing for her growth as a player...is maturity,” Way said. “It’s the maturity that you see in athletes as they get older. You can go through the specifics—she’s hitting the ball a little better, she’s more tactically aware—but the real growth is her maturity and mental attitude.”

In team competition, Sobhy helped her team clinch a win over second-ranked Trinity in the regular season, and nearly led it to a third straight national title from the top spot in the lineup, but Harvard lost to the Bantams, 5-4, in the national title finals.

“She stepped up in a leadership role for the team [this year],” Way said. “At critical moments, she stepped up and she spoke to the team….  She picked her moments, and that was the real maturity for me, was when she held court.... When Amanda came in with the right words, at the right time.”

Sobhy was named Ivy League Player of the Year for the third straight year. She heads into her senior season with two goals: national crowns for both herself and her team.

“It would be great to end my college season on a high note,” Sobhy said. “Next season the team will be a lot stronger, so I think that will give us a lot of confidence to get the national title back.”

—Staff writer Glynis K. Healey can be reached at ghealey@college.harvard.edu.