Boys Squash

Boys Squash Falters in Final Matches Prior to Nationals

Volleying the ball to the deep backhand corner of the court, seventh seed Jack Lee ’20 hammered the ball beyond his Brooks opponent’s reach, securing a 3-0 victory. Despite his win, Andover Boys Squash ultimately fell 5-2 to Brooks on Friday and 6-1 to St. George’s on Wednesday. The team’s record now stands at 7-8.

Prior to Friday’s match, Andover had already suffered a 5-2 loss to Brooks earlier in the season.

Captain David Tsai ’18 said, “Heading into the Brooks match, we all played with a chip on our shoulder. We had lost to them earlier this season at their courts, so we had to give everything we got playing them at home.”

In its rematch on Friday, Andover focused on maintaining a strong shot selection and mental stamina. In addition to Lee’s win, sixth seed Tsai won his match 3-1, with scores of 11-4, 11-9, 7-11, and 12-10.

Tsai said, “Jack Lee played a great match. He and I won our matches because we executed our game plan and wore our opponents down.”

The team’s inability to keep up with Brooks’ fast pace and fitness, however, prevented it from coming out with a win, according to Andover players.

Fifth seed Sean Kim ’18 said, “We need to improve our fitness. We are a young team, and improving our overall fitness should be our main goal as the season progresses.”

On Wednesday, the team continued to struggle with the pace of its St. George’s opponents, ultimately losing 6-1 with Andover’s lone victory coming from Lee. Out of all the players on the team, Lee currently has the highest winning percentage, winning eleven of his thirteen matches this season.

Despite fighting hard in his match, Kim ultimately lost in four games.

Kim said, “I felt great and excited and I knew how important this match was going in. My opponent was a good player but someone I felt like I could have definitely beat. Unfortunately, after 4 close games, I lost.”

Wednesday’s match was the team’s last competition before it heads to Connecticut for High School Nationals on Friday.

In its first round of matches, Andover will play Friends Academy. Andover is seeded third in Division III.

Schwartz said, “We’re top of DIII, but every potential opponent is in similar area to us, no match can be taken for granted. We’ve beaten Choate twice, who is seeded first in our division, and are getting a rematch from last year versus Friends Academy, a match we lost last year but are favored to win this year.”

Tsai added, “We are looking forward to nationals and piecing together what we have been working on these last few weeks.”