Malachi Price ’13 earned the only win in Andover’s two matches on Saturday against Taft and Choate, and Alec Buck ’13 won his match against Deerfield, Andover’s only victory on Wednesday.
Andover lost 1-7 to Taft, 0-8 to Choate and 1-7 against Deerfield.
Both Choate and Taft proved talented opponents for Andover, with Taft’s number one seed one of the nation’s best.
Undaunted by these losses early in the season, Coach Thomas Hodgson said, “We knew Choate was good too. I think [the two matches] affected all the teams the same degree. We’re a young team, and we’d been off for a lot longer than they had, so I think we’ll be in better condition later in the season, [and] I think that may help us out.”
Recording Andover’s only win, Malachi Price ’13 took his match in three games 11-8, 11-7, 11-6.
Against Taft, T.J. Lenzo ’12 lost the first two games then tied his opponent late in the third game before falling 9-11. Alex Kim ’14 and Alex Demeulenaere ’13 both lost their matches in three games, Jake Rauh ’14 and Justin Curtis ’15 fell in four games, and Cam Morose ’13 and Buck played neck and neck with their opponents but finally lost in three games.
Unfortunately for the team, Andover suffered similar losses across the board to Choate. Price played the closest match, falling in five games.
When asked about playing two matches on the same day, Lenzo said, “At first I didn’t think it was going to be an issue, but in reality I think it might have been, but we have to remember that they also had a match before us too.”
Andover played its third match of the week against Deerfield on Wednesday. Deerfield brought another tough squad, and Andover lost 1-7, its third loss in a row.
Rebounding from a hip injury, Buck overpowered his opponent and won his match in three straight sets 11-7, 11-5, 11-9.
Reid Bradt ’15 lost his first game 4-11 but rebounded and evened the score with an 11-7 win before dropping the next two games. Kim, Lenzo and Morose lost in three close games. Price, Demeulenaere and Curtis each won a game but ultimately lost in four.
Coach Hodgson said, “When you get down to the bottom of a ladder, you never know what’s going to happen. Cam is still gaining experience and he’s very athletic and very calm and he’ll just keep getting better. He’s played less squash than anybody else on the team. Alec Buck, if his hip hadn’t given out, who knows what would have happened at number four. I think some of the other people were showing some signs of being tired later on in the match, but we did fine.”
With high hopes for the remainder of the season, Andover is anticipating its next match against Groton today.
