Facing the second-ranked Junior squash player in the country, first-seed Chelsea Cho ’21 ultimately fell 9-11, 7-11, and 6-11. Andover Girls Squash lost to Choate 3-4 this past Saturday and later beat Winsor 7-0 on Wednesday. Its record now stands at 4-1.
Although only the lower half of Andover’s ladder won against Choate, every player stepped up in the match, according to Head Coach Jennifer Elliott ’94 P’22 and Katherine Bell ’22.
“The top of [Choate’s] ladder [includes] some of the best athletes and players in our league. We lost 3-4, a really tight, close match. Everyone played incredibly hard,” said Elliott.
Bell added, “[Captain Skyler Spaulding ’20] had a difficult match with her player, but she definitely kept the scores together and even though she lost, she was fighting to win. She never let a double bounce happen.”
According to Spaulding, the team’s mental strength allowed it to stay focused in the match even when losing.
Spaulding said, “We take each point at a time and if we’re up, we don’t think we’re automatically going to win and if we’re down we don’t think we’re automatically going to lose. We just stay focus point by point. It’s shown in our mental toughness in every match as we’ve stayed focused the entire time.”
According to Mariam Elkheshen ’21, Andover was able to sweep Winsor 7-0 despite being tired from the match against Choate.
“I feel like we weren’t playing our best, honestly, but everyone was trying. I felt like a lot of [us] were tired, but we tried to push it,” said Elkheshen.
In upcoming games, the team looks to be one step ahead of its opponents, according to Bell.
Bell said, “I think we’re going to just look to improve upon getting to the ball quicker, moving a bit faster on the court, and putting more pressure on the other player. We played a team that hit very hard and then ran along very quickly, so we’re definitely going to work on how to counter that, make them think about how to switch their position, and that nothing bounces twice against us.”
Spaudling added, “I think we’re just going to work on our shot selection and when to be offensive versus when to be defensive or when to go short or when to go deep. We want to play smarter so we’re not the one running more than our opponent.”
Andover will face Taft, Loomis and Phillips Exeter Academy away this Saturday.
