Fifth seed Susan Yun ’17 executed a pinpoint serve to finish her game 15-13 and sweep her overall Phillips Exeter Academy match 3-0. Susan Yun’s success broke the 3-3 stalemate against Exeter on Wednesday and propelled Andover Girls Squash to a 4-3 win.
Last Saturday, Andover suffered two losses to Milton and Choate with scores of 7-0 and 5-2, respectively. After a one-day turnaround, Andover rebounded with a 7-1 victory over Brooks on Monday. The team’s record now stands at 9-8.
After losing to Exeter 3-4 earlier in the season, Andover was hungry for a win going into Wednesday’s competition. Second seed Zoe Oasis ’17 cruised to a 3-1 victory, splitting her games 11-5, 8-11, 11-2 and 11-6. Sixth seed Caroline Yun ’18 also triumphed over her opponent 3-1 with game scores of 11-7, 5-11, 11-8 and 11-4. Third seed Avery Westerfield ’18 swept her opponent 3-0 with scores of 11-8, 11-5 and 11-7. The three wins deadlocked Andover at a 3-3 tie with Exeter before Susan Yun’s 3-0 victory carried Andover to its win.
Oasis said, “Playing Exeter is always a highlight of the squash season. This year, we knew we had to go into this match mentally tough and physically ready because they had beaten us earlier. We were ready to defeat them and when the time came, we put it all out on the courts and thanks to Susan’s deciding match, we walked away with the win.”
Against Choate, Andover played without Oasis. Westerfield stepped up to second seed with a 3-1 victory, losing her first game 7-11 but managing to come back to win the next three games 11-7, 11-9 and 11-7. Susan Yun won her match 3-1 to round out Andover’s only victories on the day.
At the 7-0 loss against Milton, everyone except sixth seed Brita Luke ’19 and seventh seed Sewon Park ’17 lost their matches 3-0. Luke won the first game 13-11 and struggled to secure another victory, finally securing a win in the fourth game, which she won 11-8. Luke lost the last game 6-11, losing the overall match 3-2. Park lost her match 3-1 after dropping the first two sets.
Fourth seed Jennifer Lee ’18 said, “Overall, I think that our team did well over the weekend. We definitely need to work on our ability to control the pace of our rallies, so looking forward to this week’s practice, we will be tailoring our drills to improve our racquet skills.”
Fresh off its recent weekend defeats, Andover bounced back with an emphatic 7-0 victory over Brooks on Monday. Although the team was still missing Oasis, Andover employed an aggressive strategy to triumph in its final home match of the season.
Oasis said, “The Brooks match was special because it was our last home match. As a team we played well and worked together to defeat Brooks for our final home win of the season.”
With its regular season over, Andover now looks to perform well at Interschols next weekend.
Editor’s Note: Sewon Park is a Commentary Editor and Susan Yun is a News Editor for The Phillipian.
