Girls Squash defeated Taft 7-1 and Loomis 6-2 on Saturday and continued the streak by beating Tabor 5-2 on Wednesday. Their current record stands at 5-0-2.
Prisha Shivani ’26 highlighted the team’s stamina, which contributed to both of its wins. Andover dominated against both Taft and Loomis, demonstrating extraordinary determination and strength, according to Shivani.
“I’d say we performed really well. This is the second game [we] had to play multiple matches so I would say it took a lot of stamina and it lasted a long time but we kept really high energy and I think we did great,” said Shivani.
Christina Yen ’24 noted the changes that were made after Saturday’s games. She emphasized two teammates, Karen Wang ’23 and Migyu Kim ’25, that have shown great improvement since the start of the season.
Yen said, “I know we won overall, but it’s not only just the results I’m referring to. As I was watching some of my teammates play, I noticed some significant improvements and adjustments that people were making to their game from last Saturday, especially the mental aspect. We’ve had quite a few breaks during the Winter term, but it seems like our team is really starting to settle down for the upcoming competitive season. For example, my teammate, Karen, looked the most concentrated I’ve seen her since the season started. My other teammate, Migyu really made improvements to her mental game, and looked really relaxed and calm on court despite playing as the underdog. Her performance was also one of the best I’ve seen since the season started.”
Devika Hajarnavis ’26 received a shout-out from Shreya Bajaj ’23, who pointed out Hajarnavis’s grit after she lost her first match and came back to win her second on Saturday. Bajaj emphasized her admiration Hajarnavis’s consistent energy.
“I think everyone did such a great job on Saturday. In particular, I was really inspired by Devika Hajarnavis. She lost her match against Loomis but won against Taft. Both of her matches went to five games, so she was playing for a long time. Since we had two matches, we were all tired by the second match, so I was just impressed by how she continued to give it her all, even after losing in a close first [match],” said Bajaj.
Bajaj herself also received compliments from Shivani. Bajaj was Shivani’s referee for her matches on Saturday, and she identified Bajaj as a main motivator, getting her through her matches. Shivani pointed out Bajaj’s spirit during the matches and the immense support and encouragement she felt from her teammate.
“[Shreya] was the person who [reffed me] and then [I reffed] her. She played really well but I’d also like to point out that she was really spirited and encouraging for me especially. She was guiding me between matches and she really helped me focus before my next match and gave me guidance on what I needed to do better,” said Shivani.
For the upcoming weeks, Yen explained that the team will not focus on merely one skill. She noted that all players have a variety of strengths and weaknesses, so it is difficult to pinpoint exactly what the team will focus on.
“Looking forward, it’s hard to say what exactly we’ll be working on, since a lot of our players have widely different styles, but what I’ve been hearing from Coach Chase is that we might focus more on our ability to volley shots in order to improve our overall offensive capabilities,” said Yen.
Andover will be playing Exeter this Saturday.
