Girls Squash huddles before taking on Kent in the second consolation round.
Girls Squash gathers between games.
This weekend, Girls Squash (10-1) traveled to Philadelphia for the U.S. High School Squash Championships, competing in a high-stakes and invigorating environment among 89 of the nation’s top-performing teams. Ultimately, the team placed seventh in Division One.
Explaining the unique experience of playing an individual sport as a team, Rachel Levitsky ’28 commended Isabella Tang ’28, who recently triumphed in the U.S. Junior Squash Championships. Coming down to the wire, Tang secured the team’s seventh place result by defeating Kent in the second consolation round.
“Every player was very important. Each position, whether you’re number one or number seven, [is] equally important and equally contributes to the team’s score. The deciding match was when we played Kent in the last match of the [consolation round]. It was our number one player, Isabella Tang, who decided our 4-3 win. That was really crucial. Our whole team was really, really excited after the win,” said Levitsky.
Prisha Shivani ’26 added onto the atmosphere leading up to Tang’s decisive win, emphasizing team spirit and suspense.
“[Our team] was all outside her court, cheering and supporting her, and she ended up winning in three. It’s been really fun to watch her play. She’s a new person in our team and the way she plays is so admirable and entertaining,” said Shivani.
Despite the demanding event, Shivani emphasized the team’s unrelenting passion and support for each other during matches.
“Even if you weren’t reffing the player on court, a lot of [our teammates] would still go up and help them in between games,” said Shivani. “There were two matches where we were playing higher seeded teams and we went in as the underdog. Although we didn’t end up winning those games, we put our best game in and everyone tried and gave their 100 percent.”
Though the team had a week and a half without games prior to Nationals, Minnie Kim ’27 credited the team’s success at Nationals to its consistent practice throughout the season.
“Throughout the season, we’ve been focused on fine-tuning our score skills, especially our fitness and speed. We can see our hard work paying off [at] Nationals when we beat players [or teams] that we usually didn’t beat,” said Kim. “High school nationals is a really fun, intense environment. It’s a bunch of high schools all packed into one large building, all screaming and cheering for each other.”
With its final tournament around the corner, Kim highlighted the team’s diligent preparation. Specifically, Kim noted, the team will focus on unwinding from the intensity of nationals and projecting their strength onto its final matches.
“We have one tournament left. This is our final push, and we really have to take advantage of it. We’re going to use this week to rest and get ourselves… back together after the really intense tournament last weekend. Going in, we’re just going to have a mindset [of] going in for one last push,” said Kim.
Girls Squash will compete at the New England Interscholastic Squash Association Championships this weekend.
Note: Prisha Shivani is a News Editor for The Phillipian
