12/13 – Andover: 3; Deerfield: 4
12/17 – Andover: 7; Milton: 0
On Saturday, Boys Squash fell by one match to Deerfield. Bouncing back from this loss, Andover swept Milton on Wednesday, winning all seven matches convincingly.
According to Jonathan Xu ’28, matches against Deerfield are historically competitive. With each set expected to be close, Xu praised the home crowd for their high spirits.
“Going into this match, it was super intense. We always have a good rivalry with Deerfield. It’s always been a competitive game and it was the same this year. The atmosphere of the game was great and that helped relieve the stress. A lot of people came to show Big Blue spirit. I’m grateful to my friends who pulled up and a lot of the upperclassmen who came out. Everyone was cheering us on and the crowd helped us a lot,” said Xu.
The first round against Deerfield featured matches where only even seed players competed. Ali Gamal ’26, sixth seed, played a close and crucial game, scoring a pivotal win with an impressive comeback in the fifth set. Co-Captain Corey Shen ’26 praised Gamal for his perseverance.
“It’s really important to get wins early on because it gives the whole team confidence, taking some pressure off of them and giving them some leeway. For Ali, when it needs to be done, he always knows what to do and gets it done. He really dug it out. He was down quite a bit in the fifth game, but knew how important his match was for us, turned it up, and came back to get that win,” said Shen.
Another important match win against Deerfield was Xu’s, Andover’s third seeded player. Despite losing 3-11 in the first set, Xu rallied with three commanding wins to take back the match. Xu described his game and what he did to pull off the upset.
“I wasn’t expecting to win, and nobody really expected me to win because last year, I played the same person and I got crushed. Even going into this year, he’s a Senior and I’m an underclassman, so his experience in high school squash would outmatch me. But I managed to pull off a strong upset win for our team. I followed my Coach [John Roberts]’s game plan, and I was really patient throughout the whole game, and that really paid off,” said Xu.
Boys Squash looked towards the Milton match as it hoped to bounce back strong from its loss against Deerfield. Although two of the top three players were not competing, Andover was able to secure a decisive victory. John Jayden Luo ’28 shouted out newcomer Kevin Wu ’29 for stepping up to the number two spot and taking a decisive win for the team.
“I thought Kevin Wu ’29 played the best today. He played number two [seed] which is a big step up from his usual number four position. We were resting Corey [Shen] and Jonathan [Xu] today, so he stepped in and played the number two. He was able to win really easily, 11–2, 11–1, 11–2, and it was a good win for him. They brought a lot of kids to cheer the home team on and it was good that he adjusted to the away crowd and was able to get it done,” said Luo.
Boys Squash will face Choate and Taft on Saturday, January 10.
