Girls Squash

Andover Girls Squash Squashes Taft and Loomis

After a tough five-­point game against her Taft opponent, fourth ­seed Skyler Spaulding ’20 fired the ball into the backhand corner of the court, successfully securing another win for Andover Girls Squash. Last Saturday, Andover swept the competition at their dual meet with a 5-2 win against Taft, and a 7-0 win against Loomis Chaffee.

After losing to Taft at Nationals last year, the team was eager to show up on the court and pull through with a victory.

Second seed Avery Westerfield ’18 said, “I felt really excited for the team after avenging our loss last year at Nationals against Taft. The team played super well overall. We continue to improve dramatically each week.”

Westerfield, Jennifer Lee ’18, Spaulding, Susan Yun ’17, and Brita Luke ’19 won both of their individual matches against Taft and Loomis.

Even without first ­seed Prianca Patel ’19, who was away for the weekend, the whole team rose up to the challenge and dominated both of its matches.

Spaulding said, “Everyone definitely stepped up their game considering we were missing Prianca, our number one, and we all moved up a spot so that was good.”

Seventh seed Brita Luke ’19 said, “Our team is definitely fit, but we can always improve on maintaining good technique when both us and our opponents are tired­­, especially in a five game match.”

In practice, Andover continues to work hard on improving both technical skills and fitness under the leadership of Head Coach Jenny Elliott ’94.

Spaulding said, “Coach Elliott is super supportive and always encourages me to do my best. Like my first two games against Taft were pretty rough, but Coach Elliott really inspired me to give it my all in the last game, and it turned out to be the best one of all.”

The team looks forward to playing a competitive match against Phillips Exeter Academy this weekend.

Westerfield said, “I’m really excited for our match against Exeter on Saturday because we beat them as closely as it gets last year. I’m expecting them to be really fired up on Saturday so it’s going to be a tough one.”

Editor’s Note: Jennifer Lee ’18 is an Associate Sports Editor and Susan Yun ’17 is a News Editor for The Phillipian.