Julia Watson ’07 placed third in her division at the Interscholastic Tournament this weekend, guiding the Girls Varsity Squash Team to an seventh place overall finish in the A Division. Andover was proud of its performance as one of sixteen strong squads from around New England. A tough draw challenged Andover, pitting its players against strong opponents. Greenwich ranked as the best team at the tournament with six of its players as number one seeds in their respective divisions. By the second round, the unlucky draw forced Andover to play Greenwich players at four spots. Watson avoided Greenwich early on. She entered the tournament expecting to do well. Seeded third in the number seven bracket, she had the highest pre-tournament ranking among Andover players. Her performance met these predictions.Watson worked her way through the first few rounds on the strength of her squash instincts. With purposeful shot selection, she used an effective combination of volley drops and tight rails. Watson lost in a semi-final to a number-one-seeded Greenwich player, but went on to win the third place playoff match. Captain Ali Zindman ’07 built off the strength of Watson’s result and placed seventh overall in the number one draw. In the second round, Captain Zindman encountered Taft’s top player, the only one-seed not from Greenwich. Earlier in the season, she had lost to this same player 3-0, but this time she pushed the match to four before Taft claimed the win. Captain Zindman won her three remaining matches against Middlesex, Milton, and Groton. In the third of those matches, she took revenge on a 3-0 loss from earlier in the season. This time, she combined lobs with carefully-chosen power shots to take a 3-1 victory. Lydia Smith ’09, fighting through fatigue, secured a fifth-place finish in the number four draw. She gave her strongest performance on Sunday in the fifth-place playoff, when she came back from a 2-0 game deficit to win in five against an opponent from St. George’s. Both players were tired, but Smith lasted longer. Andover also performed admirably at numbers five and seven. Stephanie Marton ’07 used her strong serves and good court-coverage to secure a seventh place finish. Lauren Wilmarth ’09 placed sixth in the number five bracket on the strength of good serves. Numbers two and three for Andover had more difficulty. Even though both played well at times, they were generally overmatched. Number two Carolyn Brown ’09 finished twelfth, while number three Diana Willson ’07 placed fourteenth.
