Erik Wang ’21 plays second seed for Boys Squash.
Although Belmont Hill dominated, newcomers to the team stepped up for their first Andover matches, according to Erik Wang ’21.
“Our match against Belmont Hill was particularly tough, but I think watching some of the lowerclassmen battle it out in their matches with older opponents was great to see. The [Juniors] on the team, [Aidan Lin ’23] and [Cody Comyns ’23] both had great first matches of their Andover squash careers,” said Wang.
The team struggled to hit consistent and offensive shots, leading to a disappointing result, according to Wang.
“Most of us lost our matches because of inconsistent length and attacking the ball too early. Skill-wise, the Belmont Hill guys weren’t that much better than us, so we should’ve been able to post a closer scoreline with them,” said Wang.
Looking to its next match, Andover hopes to use its loss as motivation and focus on deep rails during practice, according to Siddhant Sinha ’21 and Wang.
Sinha said, “I think we’re all pretty disappointed in ourselves. I guess we should channel that emotion into our match against Milton, a very winnable match, next week.”
Wang said, “Over the next few practices before Milton next week, we will be focusing a lot on hitting tighter, deeper length. Coach Roberts has emphasized the importance of heavy lengths rather than hard and short kills,” added Wang.
Under the leadership of three Seniors, Jack Palfrey ’21 is hopeful for the season ahead.
Palfrey said, “We’ve started to come together in the last week. We have good Senior leadership who have helped us push ourselves in practice. I’m optimistic for the rest of the season.”
This weekend, a number of members will be competing in the U.S. Junior Open tournament, held at Andover. The team will play Milton next Wednesday.
