Although Jack Lee ’20 and Siddhant Sinha ’21 both won a game out of their respective matches, the team ultimately fell 7-0 to Deerfield on Saturday. Andover Boys Squash record now stands at 7-4.
The team anticipated tough competition as Deerfield finished third in Division I at Nationals while Andover earned second place in Division II. However the team strategized to tire out its opponents, according to Captain Alex Bernhard ’19 and Sinha.
“We were pretty tired from Nationals, so we just went out and tried to keep them on court for as long as possible. We had pretty low expectations… I think we held it together well, as expected. We did not exceed my expectations,” Bernhard said.
Sinha said, “Obviously Deerfield was going to be a tough match. They’re in a different division and it’s a two-hour drive getting there. But I think our plan was just to play consistent squash and not try to do anything too fancy, because we were going up against pretty difficult players. It was just ‘Try your best to tire them out, and just keep the rally going,’” Sinha continued.
Lee’s performance was one of the strongest sets for Andover as he managed to win a game off of a skilled opponent, according to Sinha and Bernhard.
“I think Jack Lee ’20, our [third seed], played a really strong set against Deerfield’s number three who was quite good. That was a pretty good performance on his part,” said Sinha.
Deerfield was a very strong opponent, and Andover players worked to stay on the court, according to Bernhard.
Bernhard said, “The thing is when you’re playing guys who are better than you, you really can’t try to play squash against them because they will outplay you. It’s really just more about keeping them on the court for as long as possible and hopefully they will get tired or their egos will play into it, and they won’t want to be on court any longer. They will get bored and make mistakes.”
The team will face rival Phillips Exeter Academy this weekend.
