Andover Boys Squash won all its matches this week against Brooks, Exeter and Concord Academy. The team won both the Brooks and Concord matches by a score of 5-2. In the Brooks match, Captain Alex Demeulenaere ’13 and Michael Huang ’15, Andover’s first and second players respectively, lost to very talented opponents. Brooks’ number one was the most skilled opponent Andover has faced all season. Though Huang was battling an injury during his matches, he played one match to four games with scores of 11-9, 11-8, 11-6 and 11-10. The team was able to rally back, and the rest of the ladder came away with close wins. The match against Concord Academy went similarly, and Concord’s first and second players beat out Demeulenaere and Huang. The rest of Andover’s ladder, however, easily defeated the remainder of Concord’s players. “Everybody from number three down did a very good job of performing how they should, and it wasn’t a challenge for those guys,” said Huang. “After the one and two there was a pretty big drop in skill level, so the rest of us were able to pull out wins,” said Jake Rauh ’14. Andover concluded the week with an exciting win in its match against Exeter. Early in the match Andover was down 3-1, and in order to win, the team could not afford a single loss. Down 1-0, Justin Curtis ’15 battled and was able to win his match. Rauh then won in five grueling matches, and the weight of the last match was placed on the shoulders of Alec Buck ’13. Buck lost his first two games, but with his opponent drained from the first games, Buck brought the match to five games and won miraculously in the fifth set 12-10. “This match was the most unbelievable match that I have ever played. It was mine and all the Senior’s last matches, and we came out with the most important win of the season in a great comeback win,” said Demeulenaere. The team hopes to use this positive momentum to propel it forward at Interschols this weekend. Having moved up from Division B to Division A from last year’s tournament, the team will face a higher level of competition. Last year the boys won Division B, but talented teams like Belmont Hill and Milton in Divison A will be especially tough to beat. As numbers one and two, Demeulenaere and Huang plan to use their experience with difficult opponents throughout the season to win at Interschols. Considering the immense talent other teams have higher up on their ladders, Andover will have to count on wins from lower down on the ladder to perform well. As long as the team can manage to stay healthy, it has a good shot at going far in Interschols this weekend.
