Competing with three players from JV due to injury and sickness, Andover Girls Squash beat the odds on Wednesday with a 5-2 victory over Tabor.
Earlier in the week on Saturday, Andover lost 4-3 to Taft before defeating Loomis-Chaffee 5-2 later that day.
“Our squad competed with heart and grit, adapting stoically to new positions in our lineup as the flu has impacted our team,” said Coach Jennifer Elliott ’94.
“It says a lot about a team that can step up when several members are sick and fight hard, even if we aren’t playing in our usual positions on the ladder,” added Co-Captain Jessica Lee ’13.
Against Loomis on Saturday, Madeleine Mayhew ’15 picked up her first win in the top position. Adele Bernhard ’14, Lee, Claire Kister ’16 and Misha Hooda ’14 won matches at numbers two through five.
The match was an improvement over Andover’s loss to Taft earlier that day, in which Bernhard, Hooda and Katie Weaver ’15 were the only players to record wins.
Hooda, who won twice on Saturday, said, “Going into the Taft match I think we were a little bit nervous just because most of us were playing up in position. I think the most important thing I kept telling myself was that position on the ladder didn’t matter.”
She continued, “Going into our Loomis game I think we felt a little more confident, but that didn’t mean that we could lose focus or play with less aggression. In fact, knowing that we had a chance of beating Loomis only made the team work harder to win each game.”
In Andover’s win on Wednesday, Mayhew and Kister were out due to sickness and Hannah Burns ’15 due to injury. But the team prevailed, as Lee, Bernhard, Price, Weaver and Hooda all contributed victories to secure the team win.
“We are looking to get healthy and train conscientiously to prepare for our upcoming [matches],” said Elliott.
Andover competes against Deerfield this Friday and Exeter this Saturday.
