Foster Jebsen ’08 won an inspiring five-game match, but the Andover Boys Squash team suffered two more tough losses against strong Nobles and St. Paul’s teams. Andover suffered a shutout to St. Paul’s, and won only two matches against Nobles. While the team is steadily improving, injuries have proven to be a serious setback, as many players have been forced to play one spot above their original position on the team. Andover traveled up to Nobles last Friday looking to capture its second win of the season. The team was confident, expecting to face an easy JV squad, but soon learned that Nobles was not just a JV team. While Andover ended up losing 2-5, the outcome could have gone either way as many matches went to 5 games. Graham Miao ’09 took the first win with a 3-0 performance. After a slow start on the season for Miao, he has won his last two matches in dominating fashion and proven a force to be reckoned with. Despite this quick victory, Andover went on to lose the next 4 matches, which included a disappointing 2-3 loss from Dave Koppel ’08 playing in the 6th position. Koppel had a commanding lead in the 5th game and several match points, but could not pull out the victory. The most inspiring performance of the day came from Foster Jebsen ’08, who was finally able to clinch a five-game victory. After several crushing five-game defeats earlier in the season, Jebsen was determined not to let the team down and get the win. In a back-and-forth match that featured tight rails and several very long rallies, Jebsen focused in and earned a hard-fought victory which proved an important moral boost for the squad. Despite Jebsen’s thrilling victory, Andover once again fell short of a team win. After several tough practices after the Nobles loss, the Andover squad hosted St. Paul’s at home last Wednesday. After graduating only their number seven last year, St. Paul’s was expected to be a league force this season, and thus far has proven just that. Andover knew that this would be one of their toughest matches of the season, and came in with no expectations. After many tough battles, St. Paul’s proved too strong for Andover, and captured a decisive 7-0 victory. Seniors Danny Silk ’07 and Matt Schubert ’07 each brought their opponents to an 8-8 tie in the third game, but ended up losing the game 9-10 and 8-10 respectively. Gould also had a tough match, but fought hard and gave the number one for St. Paul’s a difficult game. Varsity reserves Jorden Zanazzi ’08 and Trey Meyer ’09 had strong opponents as well, and fell just short of victory. Despite the two disappointing losses, Coach Cone still sees vast improvement from the team, and is confident in a late season run from the squad. The team is hoping to turn around a series of losses in the upcoming weeks, and it still remains confident. Next week Andover will play Westminster, Choate, and rival Exeter.
