Andover’s first seed player Migyu Kim ’25 prepares for a shot against Middlesex opponent.
In its final home match of the season, Andover Girls Squash took on Middlesex. In dominant fashion, Andover swept the matches, winning 7-0. Andover has now won eight consecutive matches, and its record stands at 11-2.
According to Cathy Cho ’22, the team’s energy against Middlesex propelled each other to play better and foster unity within the team. The overall success led to the team’s positivity, which made for a very enjoyable set of matches.
Cho said, “The atmosphere was very hype. Everyone was pumped to be winning from all different courts. Our team felt the most connected; we have the whole season with all the support and small talk, and it was really great.”
In preparation for upcoming New England Prep School Girls Championships Class A (New England’s) over next weekend, Andover decided to rest its two top players. Andover embraced this challenge, proving it to be a rather good choice, as the rest of the lineup got to move up two spots. Andover embraced this challenge and it motivated them to play better.
According to Captain Mafi Pinot ’22, the challenge of moving up two spots really allowed the team to fine tune its skills.
Pinot said, “I think overall I was really proud of my team’s performance because we are preparing for New England’s, so everyone used their matches as preparations for the upcoming tournament. I was also really proud of Kennedy [Ndiaye ’22] because she played at number two, which is two spots above her usual ranking. Me and Christina [Yen ’24] didn’t play because we rested our top players to prepare for the tournament, and Kennedy played really well in an unfamiliar position.”
Cho added, “I feel like everyone played well. Our top two players didn’t play, because we are trying to prepare for New England’s this weekend, so to prevent injuries they just cheered and supported us instead of playing. Everyone played two spots above their original position. Everyone was more motivated to push themselves because they were playing a higher position, and it worked out really well. We swept and won 7-0, everyone won 3-0 in their matches, so that was really nice.”
According to Christina Yen ’24, the final home game proved to be emotional for some of the Seniors, as it was their last time playing on the courts they had known throughout their Andover careers. This emotion inspired the rest of the team to play well.
Yen said, “Everybody was pretty excited, pretty motivated to play well… There’s New England’s coming up, and this was our last home match. We all wanted to go out with a positive attitude.”
Heading into matches that the team expects to win, Andover focused on smaller aspects of their game. Working on fine tuning its weaknesses, Andover is well prepared for the upcoming New England’s tournament.
Cho noted, “I was working on my serve, trying different things to give myself a higher chance of, well, winning. A lot of people thought of their biggest weakness, and since this wasn’t supposed to be a super challenging match, people were more willing to take risks. For example, I tried out different serves and saw which one was the best and used this to our advantage to strengthen our weaknesses.”
This match gave Andover the confidence they need to play their best in the upcoming tournaments.
“Everyone was having a lot of fun, and we were all really excited for the upcoming weekend. We also have Nationals coming up, so yesterday we were just really excited for all the tournaments we have coming up,” said Pinot.
Andover looks to continue its strong season this weekend at New England’s.
