Gigi Glover ’20 left a mark on the court during Wednesday’s match from her volley drop shots that outplayed her Middlesex opponent, aiding in Andover Girls Squash’s complete 7-0 sweep against Middlesex. The team’s record now stands 11-1.
Karen Wang ’23 said, “I want to give a big shout-out to Gigi, who was able to completely win so many points from her opponent just by doing amazing volley drop shots that were pretty legendary.”
Charlotte Toogood ’20 also had an outstanding showing of volley drop shots, according to Kennedy Ndiaye ’22.
“Charlotte hit volley drop shots confidently and with lots of accuracy, and she played really purposefully the whole match,” said Ndiaye.
Head Coach Jennifer Elliott ’94 remarked on the team’s purposeful and offensive style of play against Middlesex.
“I would say our team was effective in jumping on loose balls and placing them deliberately in the corners. Up and down the ladder, we have been focusing on offense and ways of taking time away from our opponents by volleying and thinking about how we can be as accurate as possible with both our short and our long games,” said Coach Elliott.
This Saturday, Andover, currently ranked the fifth best high school team in the country, will face Deerfield Academy, which is ranked third.
According to Assistant Coach Midori Ishizuka ’11, the team needs to be physically and mentally prepared for one of its most challenging matches of the season against Deerfield.
Ishizuka said, “A little of the flip side of the coin of having won so much is that we need to have a match where we are really fighting, and I think the girls need to mentally prepare for a match that is going to be harder than what they are used to. I think that it is going to be a mental game as much as a physical one.”
According to Toogood and Coach Ishizuka, in the days leading up to Deerfield as well as Interschols and High School Nationals, the team’s main priority is health.
“We really have to focus on staying healthy as a team, especially with the flu season in full swing. We need to make sure that everyone is taking care of themselves so no one is sick for our big tournaments,” said Toogood.
Ishizuka added, “We wanted to make sure starting as early as Monday this week that all the girls by Wednesday were going to get eight to nine hours of sleep up until Friday night so no one was tired or too sick to play their best on Saturday.”
Andover will play Deerfield at home on Saturday.
