Missing its Captain and its number two player on Saturday, the Girls Varsity Squash Team lost a closely played match against Milton. Filling in for Captain Diana Grace ’05, several seniors produced strong wins, but Milton was able defeat Andover in four out of the seven matches. Andover defeated St. Paul’s 6-1 on Wednesday. Playing in the number one spot, Ale Zindman ’07 was unable to defeat her opponent who implemented a strategy never before seen by Zindman. Though bewildered, Zindman stayed in the game until the fifth when her opponent took the winning point. Charlotte Macmillan ’05 played in the number two spot filling in for Grace. Macmillan dominated her match, winning in four sets. This victory along with Skylar Washburn’s ’05 and Jean Marie Gossard’s ’05 put Andover in a good position.. The strength of Milton’s entire team was too much for Andover, though. Cara Ruccolo ’05 struggled against her opponent and was taken down in the fourth set. Pawina Jiramongkolchai ’06 and Diana Willson ’07 were also taken down by their opponents, though they fought hard. Twisting the knife in Andover’s back was the possibility of a victory if Grace had been able to play in her match. Not letting its first loss slow it down, Andover took on a solid St. Paul’s team and defeated it six to one this past Wednesday. Ruccolo’s victory against St. Paul’s was especially dramatic due to the emotions of the game. Starting the game, her opponent would not even take her warm-up jacket off. Taking this as an insult to her game, Ruccolo came out especially fired up and took down her opponent in three straight sets. Gossard played particularly well in her match, winning in three straight matches. Many of her points came on her serve, and during the longer points she was able to force her opponent to the back of the court, opening up easy drop shot winners. Continuing their strong play, Washburn and Zindman each took their opponents down in three sets. Winning most of her points on her serve, Jiramongkolchai took her opponent down in three sets: 9-0; 9-2; 9-2. Due to lack of practice time, Grace suffered Andover’s only loss on the day. This victory was a much needed confidence boost after Andover’s heart breaking loss to Milton. Gossard said, “Basically we schooled them. We were all much faster to the ball than our opponents. Our agility allowed us to concentrate on perfecting both our hard deep balls to the back corners and our drop shots.”
