Virginia Announces Four Incoming First-Years
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia women’s squash head coach Mark Allen announced today (April 7) four recruits who will be joining the team as freshmen for the 2024-25 season: Maryam Mian (Princeton, N.J.), Maria Min (Vancouver, Canada), Claire Pellegrino (New Canaan, Conn.) and Anna Shumway (Palm Beach, Fla.).
“We are proud and excited to welcome such a strong class of recruits to UVA this fall. This group of players will arrive with a wealth of on-court experience derived from competition at the international level and exceptional talent across the board. We are honestly thrilled for September, when we can officially welcome all four of our incoming first years to McArthur Squash Center and start in on what promises to be a tremendous season for UVA Squash.”
Maryam Mian played at the top of the ladder for The Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, N.J., leading the team to a second-place finish at the 2024 U.S. High School Squash Championships, the highest-ever finish in the school’s history, and three straight MAPL league titles. In 2022, she was awarded the William T. Ketcham Jr. Most Improved Award by U.S. Squash after jumping 39 positions in the junior rankings that year. She won the 2019 Pennsylvania Regional Championships and competed at the 2023 Women’s US Junior Open.
Maria Min is a three-time Canadian National Champion and a two-time Canadian Junior Open champion, earning her most recent title in the U19 division at the end of April. She finished fifth in the GU17 age group of the US Junior Open in 2021 and represented Canada at the 2022 and 2023 World Junior Squash Championships, finishing sixth in the team event in the latter. She was a silver medalist in the team event at the 2022 Pan American Squash Championships and won gold with her team at the 2023 Canada Winter Games.
Claire Pellegrino was a 2022-23 High School All-American. She earned a No. 1 ranking in the U17 Junior Rankings and is currently in the top 10 of U19. She was the captain for the U.S. squad at the 2022 Battle of the Borders and competed at the 2019 British Junior Open. She earned a FairWest All-League Award in 2022-23. Pellegrino also took the U17 division title at the 2022 Arlen Specter Philadelphia Junior Championships.
Anna Shumway is the top-ranked women’s player in Florida and has attained national rankings of #18 and #12 in the U-19 and U-17 divisions respectively. In junior squash competition, Shumway’s notable results include a 10th-place finish at the 2022 U.S. Closed National Championships, multiple Gold-level tournament titles, and a fourth-place finish at the Frank Millet Junior Championships, a JCT (US Squash’s top tier) event. As a senior at Deerfield Academy she served as team captain, helping lead the team to a seventh-place finish in the Girls’ Division II draw. Shumway has also competed at the professional level, reaching a career-best ranking of #225 and earning a berth in the Open Division at the SL Green US National Championships.