Earning the only victory for Andover Boys Squash against Tabor on Saturday, sixth seed Xander Schwartz ’19 hammered the ball into the back of the court to seal his match 3-1. Andover lost 1-6 to Tabor and went onto lose 0-7 to St. Paul’s on Wednesday, bringing its record to 3-6.
The two losses followed two shutout wins against Middlesex and St. Paul’s last week. Although the team’s winning streak came to an abrupt end at Tabor, the final score did not capture how closely contested some of the matches were.
Seventh seed Eric Wu ’18, who narrowly lost his match 2-3, said, “Tabor was a bit of a disappointment. It was a close match that was not reflected by the score. A lot of the matches went to [five games], but we just had difficulty finishing the matches.”
In addition to Wu, third seed Ishaan Patel ’18 and fifth seed David Tsai ’18 both battled to five set losses and fell just short of clinching wins.
Against St. Paul’s on Wednesday, Andover faced a similar situation. Although five players fell 3-0, the individual games of several matches were narrow losses.
Second seed and Captain Jack Quamme ’16 said, “There were a couple close matches and even more close games, but St. Paul’s has improved a lot since last year. Ishaan took his [match] to five games but came up short.”
Patel said, “Overall, I think the team struggled with becoming disheartened. We have come off of some tough losses, but we need to keep our heads up and keep on chugging through the season.”
Despite the two losses this week, the team still possesses a positive outlook for the rest of the season.
Eighth seed Sean Kim ’18 said, “As a team we have amazing spirit, and we always give it our best regardless of how good the opponent may be. With all the effort, I think we have been getting better and better throughout the season.”
Quamme said, “Moving forward I think we’re just trying to not let this match discourage us. After the match, Coach Hodgson tried to emphasize that this was just one match, and we should learn from it but keep our focus on the rest of the season, not our past record.”
The team hopes to come back strong in its games against Westminster and Choate on Saturday.
