1/23 – Andover: 7, Nobles: 0
1/24 – Andover: 6, Hopkins: 1
1/24 – Andover: 0, Hotchkiss: 7
1/29 – Andover: 7, St. Paul’s: 0
Boys Squash (8–2) secured sweeps against Noble and Greenough (Nobles) and St. Paul’s on last Friday and Wednesday, respectively. On Saturday, despite losing in a sweep to Hotchkiss, the team won 6–1 against Hopkins.
Jonathan Xu ’28 provided insight about the team’s mindset heading into its matches against Nobles last Friday. Although deemed a secured win for the team, Boys Squash did not let down its guard, generating momentum for the dense week ahead.
“There’s been a lot of ups and downs recently as of our matches, so for Nobles, we went into the match knowing that we were [going to] win this one, and this is really just a confidence booster,” said Xu.
Despite its loss to Hotchkiss, Xu described how Co-Captain Cory Shen ’26 boosted the team’s morale.
“A star player was definitely Cory [Shen ’26], our [Co-]Captain. He was always really optimistic, going into our matches even against Hotchkiss, and he pushed us to just give it our all. His match against the number one [athlete of Hotchkiss] was actually really close, and it just goes to show that we are not that far off, but we just need to put in some more work to get there,” said Xu.
JJ Luo ’28 pointed out Shen, describing how he has been a constant role model for the team to follow after. Although the results of the game differed throughout the week, he mentioned that Shen’s continuous support played a key role in their overall success.
“[Shen] actually played all four matches, which is pretty rough. He went two for four and the only two matches he lost were on Saturday, but he played two really strong opponents. Even though he didn’t win on court, he was still making sure to support everybody else while he wasn’t playing. That contributed to the success of the team,” said Luo.
For the final match of the week, the team took on St. Paul’s. The team recorded another shutout and Co-Captain Corey Shen ’26 praised fellow Co-Captain Ali Gamal ’26 for his impact during his game, while highlighting his impressive mental game that allowed for his win.
“Ali Gamal played the best. He’s our number four [seed], and he’s one of the Co-Captains. Whenever he plays a match against someone who might be a little bit weaker than him, he can sometimes underestimate them, but he stayed very disciplined today and he brought a lot of energy to the team,” said Shen.”
After an arduous week for the team, the team hopes to keep their winning streak in order to prepare for the tough stretch ahead in February. Luo talked about how the team looks to improve as it proceeds to Nationals and NEPSACs.
“We want to make sure we don’t make any mistakes and drop any unforced matches. That would lead us well into nationals. It’s really unpredictable. We hope to carry the momentum that we had through the season into nationals and NEPSACs,” said Luo.
Boys Squash will look to face Westminster, Choate, and Belmont Hill this Saturday at home.
