In its last match before Interschols, Andover Boys Squash suffered a 7-0 defeat against Phillips Exeter Academy on Wednesday. On Monday, Andover was also swept 7-0 by Brooks. The two losses this week dropped the team’s record to 4-12.
In the team’s last matchup against Exeter at the beginning of February, it was missing both first seed Alex Bernhard ’19 and fourth seed Jerry Yang ’17. The team lost 7-0, winning only one game out of all its matches. This Wednesday, with the return of its first and fourth seeds, Andover was hopeful for a better result. While the score of the overall competition remained the same, many of Andover’s players did, in fact, improve against their opponents in their individual matches.
Patel said, “The match today was a lot closer than the scoreboard actually displayed. Most of the games were close, and in a few matches we were able to take Exeter to four or five games.”
Earlier in the week, Andover faced off against a tough Brooks team, to whom Andover lost 7-0 in December. As in its rematch against Exeter, most Andover players performed better in their individual matchups against Brooks this time around.
Sean Kim ’18 said, “Brooks is a very good team. We played them before. It was our first match of the season, and we got swept. This time, however, I think we won a few games, which shows how much we’ve improved this season.”
Looking ahead, the team needs to focus on the mental aspect of its game in order to reach its full potential.
Kim said, “We are a young team with a bright future, but we need to work on our mentality and our mental game.”
Although fifth seed David Tsai ’18 will not be able to compete, the team is excited for Interschols this weekend.
“Interschols is going to be awesome. Unfortunately, Tsai is injured and thus, Eric, Xander and I will be moved up a spot. I am looking forward to it so much,” said Kim.
With no more games in the regular season, the team hopes to succeed at Interschols and end the season on a high note.
