Seeded first at the Class B New England Interscholastic Tournament this weekend, Andover’s sixth seed Julia Zorthian ’11 battled to a second place finish in her bracket. Trouncing her opponents in the quarter and semi-finals in three games apiece, she fell to Williston in the final round. “Making it to the finals was very exciting, and I exceeded my own expectations. I was ecstatic to take home second place, but right after the match it was somewhat disappointing to come so close to winning. I was surprised by how many people watched my match, and I think the support helped me to play better,” said Zorthian. Overall, Andover earned fourth place out of sixteen schools competing in the tournament. Dropping down to Class B for New Englands, the team fought stroke for stroke with its opponents throughout the tournament. Amanda Howland ’11 came in fifth place, Jessica Blake ’10 took fourth and June Supapannachart ’11 took seventh. Howland blasted a cross court shot to the back left corner in order to trap her opponent in the back of the court to seal a fifth place finish. Howland’s Kent opponent scrambled to return her drops and tight drives throughout the three sets. “I feel like I played some of the best squash all season. I returned things I could not have earlier this season, and I ran for everything. I have bruises on my knees to prove it,” said Howland. After defeating her first two opponents in the main draw without difficulty, Blake struggled to overtake her Tabor and Winsor opponents on Sunday. Blake said that her match against Tabor was her best match of the tournament. In Supapannachart’s first match of the tournament, she astounded her opponent with a comeback vctory. Down two games to none, Supapannachart stunned the Miss Porter’s player in the final three games of the match to seize the win. “It was the first match, so I knew I could not give up. I listened to Coach’s and the team’s advice in between games, though tried not to over-think my shots. I focused on the each individual game, rather than concentrating on the scores,” saidSupapannachart. Blake said, “I think our mental games got better as the season went on. We were in a rut from a few early losses, but we were able to put it behind us and head into the tournament with a positive attitude. The interscholastic tournament was bittersweet because it was the last squash competition for [Captain] Kim [Kohn ’10] and I, but we both played hard and had a lot of fun.”
