After a disappointing 7-0 loss against Groton on Wednesday, January 23, Andover Girls Squash crushed Middlesex 7-0 this past Friday and only dropped three games in the process.
“The match went great. It was one we were going into [knowing] we were really close with them, so to come out with such a strong lead was more than we could have asked for,” said Co-Captain Jessica Lee ’13.
Madeleine Mayhew ’15, second on the ladder, swept her match 3-0.
“My [opponent] was playing well, but I was able to beat her in the backcourt,” Mayhew said.
Camille Price ’15, Claire Kister ’16 and Misha Hooda ’14 also won their matches 3-0. Co-Captains Adele Bernhard ’14 and Lee, along with Emma Crowe ’15 won their matches 3-1, only dropping one game each.
“[At most] our matches went to four games. [The players] that dropped their first match would win their last three,” Hooda said.
Andover did, however, face some adversity on its way to this victory and rebounded from two especially tough matches against Groton and Deerfield the previous week and some injuries.
Mayhew said, “We have been having some pretty hard losses, some injuries and some sickness. Everyone really wanted to win this one. We needed it for the self-confidence of the team.”
Hannah Burns ’15 usually plays at the fifth spot on the ladder, but she is still out with a stress fracture. The rest of the team, though, is healthy and ready to play.
With Nationals next weekend, the team still plans to use this match as a learning experience, looking for ways improve their game.
“Our team is working a lot on confidence with shots and decisiveness… The more we can step into the shot offensively and with confidence, the better we will do [going forward],” said Lee.
The team also wants to focus on being healthy and preventing injuries in order to play the best they can.
“At this point in the season, Coach [Jennifer] Elliott just wants us to stay healthy,” said Price.
Having now played the majority of their season, the girls have already played many of the teams they will face in High School Nationals, which gives them a good perspective going in.
Last year, Andover came in fifth place in Division II, and the team hopes to do even better this year.
“We are much stronger team compared to [last year],” Lee said.
Price said, “It is good to get out there [to Nationals] and know where you stand against those girls because I imagine Middlesex will be in our division.”
With this decisive victory, the team looks ahead to Nationals and is happy to be on an upward trajectory going into this weekend’s matches at home against Brooks today and away at Nobles & Greenough on Saturday.
