Worldly affair for rising star

Nabilla Ariffin’s first encounter with coach Jack Wyant could have gone better.

“I just picked up the phone and called at two in the afternoon, right before practice,” Wyant recalled.

Unfortunately he had forgotten the 13-hour time difference between the East Coast and Ariffin’s native Malaysia.

“I had fallen asleep … and he called me with this funny American accent. I didn’t understand what he was saying,” Ariffin said.

“I was like, ‘What are you trying to tell me?’”

Luckily for Wyant, this awkward moment eventually led to a rapport that brought the rising star to Penn. Arrifin has already had considerable success with the Quakers, earning a No. 15 national ranking by the College Squash Association.

The highlight of her season came last month when she filled in for Kristen Lange at the top of the ladder and defeated No. 5 Toby Eyre of Williams.

Although this is her first year competing for the Red and Blue, Ariffin was no stranger to several of her teammates when she arrived at Penn.

Senior Britt Hebden was the first American athlete Ariffin ever played against at the Scottish Junior Open many years ago.

“It’s just so weird,” Ariffin said of their friendship, which continued long after that first tournament. “Two young girls running around in Scotland … and now we’re playing college squash together as a team. It’s fantastic.”

Though Hebden has three more years of college squash experience than Ariffin, she has no doubt as to her friend’s abilities.

“She always beat me,” said Hebden. “She’s a better squash player than I am so I look up to her that way.”

The first time Ariffin faced her future captain, Lange, was at the Women’s World Junior Open in 2005.

“She has this really fierce expression on her face, like she’s ready to kill you, to chop you up,” said Ariffin. “The first time I went in, I was really scared of her.”

Evidently, Ariffin didn’t let fear get in her way, as she emerged victorious over Lange after four sets.

The Malaysian’s squash acquaintances aren’t limited to her teammates either.

This weekend, she will have a chance to catch up with old friend Alisha Mashruwala when the Quakers take on Harvard on Saturday.

After meeting at the Malaysian Open in 2000, the pair saw each other regularly touring the Asian squash circuit.

“We always had fantastic matches,” Mashruwala said. “It was always really, really close.”

In spite of friendly relations with many of the elite in college squash, Ariffin admits competition takes over come match time.

And if the rookie keeps up her competitive play, even her most familiar opponents won’t take too kindly to having to face her on the court.

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