With a recruiting class like this year’s, the Harvard women’s squash team isn’t rebuilding—it’s reloading. Four promising new players will be the Crimson’s ammunition as it takes aim at the top teams in the nation.

Sophomore transfer Kyla Grigg and freshmen Supriya Balsekar, Jen Blumberg and Elizabeth Berylson are filling in nicely at No. 1, 3, 4 and 10, respectively. Despite their newcomer status, the four are helping lead No. 4 Harvard in its pursuit of league and national titles. “We definitely have had a tremendous recruiting class,” Harvard coach Satinder Bajwa said. “These four this year have enabled us again.”

AROUND THE WORLD

The recruiting abilities of the program extend beyond American borders to the Commonwealth. Of the four new players, Grigg and Blumberg are Canadian, while Balsekar hails from India by way of the Taft School. All received international attention after succeeding in international competition.

Grigg, the 2003 U-19 Canadian Women’s Champion, was ranked second among the WISPA Rising Stars, the equivalent of a farm team for international professional squash. The same year, she lost in the 16th round of the world championship to Omneya Abdel Kawy, an Egyptian who would go on to win the championship and who is now ranked 10th in the world.

A junior national champion, Blumberg played for No. 1 for Team Canada, which took sixth at the world juniors.

Balsekar has represented Team India in the World Junior Championships in 1999, 2001 and 2003, most recently playing No. 3 for the team that advanced to the semifinals in Egypt.

THE COLLEGE TRY

Though they hail from around the globe, the recruits were drawn by Harvard’s reputation in the classroom and on the courts.

“I wanted to go to a school that was challenging academically, as well as having a good squash team,” Balsekar said.

The chance to continue to play competitive squash in college drew Grigg to transfer to Harvard from the University of Calgary, which lacked a team.

The recruits had other considerations. Blumberg, for instance, is the younger sister of senior Michael Blumberg, who plays at No. 4 for the Crimson men’s squad.“He was always encouraging me to go to Harvard so we would be together, which would be really fun,” Blumberg said. But, she added, “I didn’t come here just to follow in my brother’s footsteps.”

Like the rest of the new players, Blumberg is in no one’s shadow.

Three of the four recruits are seeded among the top 15 intercollegiate players in the nation. Grigg is ranked at No. 6, Blumberg at No. 10 and Balsekar at No. 14, joining three Crimson upperclassmen among the top 15. Grigg is the first Harvard woman on the international rankings and lines up first on the team’s roster.

Her acquisition fills the void in the Crimson left by the graduation of last year’s No. 1, Louisa Hall ’04.