Even without its top two players, Andover Girls Squash won all top seven matches and secured its second consecutive 7-0 sweep over Phillips Exeter Academy this Wednesday. The team’s record now stands at 12-1.
After a tiring weekend at Nationals, the team took time to rest and recover in preparation for its annual Andover/Exeter match and Interschols, according to Head Coach Jenny Elliott ’94.
Elliott said, “Mostly, we needed to recover from the weekend, and because we had beaten them last time fairly decisively, we knew we could afford resting [Chelsea Cho ’21] and [Mariam Elkheshen ’21], so that’s what we did for today. We are just wanting to make sure that we recover for this weekend, but we were obviously excited, and it is always a fun time to play Exeter. They were great to host us, and there were some great matches today.”
The team was comfortable with Exeter’s courts and stayed on top of each point, according to Captain Skyler Spaulding ’20.
“We all adjusted well to the courts that they have at Exeter, because they are very different from the ones we have at Andover, and we stayed focused every point. Every time one of us was done with our matches, we went and supported each other,” said Spaulding.
According to Elliott, the top eight teams in New England will face off at Interschols, which will provide new challenges because of the new tournament format.
“Interschols has a little bit of a different format this year. We are going to only be competing with seven other players in each of our draws, so we are going to have some tough matches. We are now seeded four out of the top eight teams, which is really exciting, and it means we are going to have some tough matches up and down the ladder. Last weekend, we were really stretched and played hard, so we are just trying to recover and feel like we can get back to 100 percent so that we can play some good long matches.”
According to Mafi Pinot ’22, the team has built a strong foundation and now aims to put it into motion in each match.
“I feel like we’ve worked really hard up to this point to build a really strong game strategy, and today was a good example of putting it in practice. I think our main goal is to volley and attack when we have the chance, so I feel like we are prepared for Interschols,” Pinot said.
The team will travel to Deerfield this weekend to compete at Interschols.
