Erik Wang ’21 plays second seed and defeated his opponent against St.Paul’s.
Erik Wang ’21 plays second seed and defeated his opponent against St.Paul’s.
Dropping a total of only seven points, Arthur Ngyuen ’22 secured a win as the third seed for Andover Boys Squash against St. Paul’s on Wednesday, contributing to the team’s 6-1 win.
The team previously traveled to New Haven, Conn. on Saturday to compete in a double header, where it defeated Hopkins 4-3 but fell to Hotchkiss 4-3. It’s record now stands at 7-3.
In its matches against Hopkins and Hotchkiss, the team was able to gain exposure to different levels of teams in the league, according to Siddhant Sinha ’21.
Sinha said, “They were both very close matches. The win against Hopkins definitely helped the team, and even against Hotchkiss it was a very tight match and they are a strong team as well. It was out first time playing both teams and I think the outcomes were quite favorable for us.”
According to Will Yun ’20 and Sinha, this season the team has focused more on its depth and volleys. After its double-header weekend the team took some time off from match play to focus more closely on these aspects.
“I think the theme of this year has been length so getting our shots deep enough where it is dying in the corners and then another theme has also been volleying so jumping on the opponents wide shot that’s easy to attack with a volley,” said Yun.
Sinha added, “It’s good to have a week or so off from matches. I think this break helped the team as we got some extra time to prepare because if you have a match every three to four days, it gets hard to work on something but I think we were able to because of the time we got off.”
According to Yun, Andover’s two victories this past week increases the team’s chances in its hope to move up to Division I for High School Nationals and the Interscholastic Championships.
“I think the petition to get into the Division I was already sent in on Monday but our wins do help with our standing within the league. The way it works is that there are a bunch of teams that are at the start of the season are able to get into Division I to start off with and as the season gets to the halfway point, the committee has to decide which schools are playing in what leagues for the Nationals tournament. If you are having a good season they will put you higher up in Division I and if not, you will be put into Divisions II or III. So it is pretty important if you want to face the best competition possible for Interschols and Nationals down the line in the season,”
Andover will compete in another double-header against Westminster and Brighton Hall this coming Saturday.
