Sports

Injuries Lead to Up and Down Week for Andover

Despite losing key players to injury and sickness, including number four Kun Woo Kim ’14, Andover Boys Squash trumped St. Mark’s, a team of equal talent, with a decisive score of 5-2.

Later in the week, Andover lost 1-6 to Nobles on Saturday and came back with a 5-2 win on Wednesday against St. Paul’s.

In the St. Mark’s match, Michael Huang ’15 played a close match and won in four games.

Alec Buck ’13 won as well, as did Jake Rauh ’14, Malachi Price ’13 and Cam Morose ’13.

Captain Alex Demeulenaere ’13 won his first game but lost the next three.

Justin Curtis ’15 faced a strong opponent, to whom he lost the first game and won the next two. Eventually Curtis’ opponent overwhelmed him with his strength and Curtis lost games four and five.

Andover was not able to overcome Kim’s absence in its next match on Saturday against Nobles, in which Andover lost 1-6. Nobles was missing its number one and has traditionally been a very strong division two team.

“Some of us probably could have played better, but they definitely had solid players all the way down the ladder. Also, injuries have been brutal for us this year, and they played a significant role in our loss,” said Curtis.

In addition to Kim’s absence, a few other players were experiencing knee and back problems.

Although the team only won 21 percent of its games, they had the potential to win 88 percent of their games. This percentage is judged by the amount of all the games in which Andover went above eight points.

“It definitely was a disappointment to us because we knew we had a shot at winning that match,” said Huang.

Curtis won in four games for the team’s only win.

With Kim back from injury, Andover came out on top in its match against St. Paul’s on Wednesday with another 5-2 victory.

“St. Paul’s was a team whose level we didn’t quite know, but we ended up playing some very good squash and coming out with a win. This win will help our bid for Nationals placement, because they were in the division ahead of us,” said Demeulenaere.

Huang showed character in his match after going down 2-1 and then battling back to win in five games.

Kim won his first match back in four games.

Morose also won in four games, and both Buck and Malachi Price ’13 won in straight games.

Curtis and Demeulenaere both lost in three games.

Andover is currently in division four for Nationals ranking, but its win against St. Paul’s demonstrated promise that it can compete in division three.

Andover will face Choate and Westminster in a tournament at home on Saturday. Both matches are expected to be challenging, and Andover looks to avenge its 5-2 loss to Choate from earlier this season.