Midori Ishizuka ’11 smashed a cross-court shot, propelling Andover to a 4-3 win over Brooks Wednesday. The five game match gave the advantage to Andover as the team earned its second win of the season. Ishizuka said, “That was probably one of the closest matches I’ve ever played in. Playing the last match and with the two teams tied at three-all, I didn’t let the Brooks player stop me from playing my game.” Catherine Choi ’13 refereed the match. She said, “Midori was really strong on the serve. Her opponent particularly struggled with the jam serve, winning her easy points.” Andover won the match against Brooks School 4-3 on Wednesday, winning matches at the third, fifth, sixth, and seventh seeds. All of the winning matches went into five games. June Supapannachart ’11, playing number five on the Andover ladder, frustrated her Brooks opponent by taking advantage of her tennis grip that hindered her play in the back corners. Supapannachart said, “At first, it was really hard to adapt to the courts because they were made out of a different material, but I got used to it and was able to play my game. After the first game, Coach Hodgson took me aside and told me to let her over-hit shots bounce off the back wall. I began to retrieve more and more of her balls, aggravating my opponent.” Julia Zorthian ’11 also won her match against Brooks. She said, “My opponent was really tall, so I had to hit my shots low and hard.” Jessica Lee ’13 earned her first varsity win in the victory. Captain Kim Kohn ’10 said, “Honestly, I do not think that we played our best against Brooks. We are definitely a stronger team, though, despite the win, it did not show. We played down to their level.” On Saturday, the team struggled to win games against Middlesex, losing 7-0. Middlesex’s strong squad had better technique, depth and shot selection. Coach Tom Hodgson said, “We faced two completely different teams this week. Middlesex ‘gave us the buzzsaw,’ as no one managed to win a game.” He continued, “On the other hand, Brooks gave us a chance to play our game. I think it was terrific for the team to come out with a win, especially with so many close matches. It shows that on Wednesday, the Andover girls wanted to win more than their opponents.” Andover will have a scrimmage against SquashBusters on Thursday, an inner- city squash program. However, the team has over a week of practice time until their next official match against Noble and Greenough School on Friday. Reverting back to the basic swing and perfect form, the squad hopes to improve and be more competitive in the second half of the season. Amanda Howland ’11 said, “We are lucky that we have a long break in matches. Rather than focusing on defeating experienced squads, we are able to spend valuable time perfecting our strokes.”
