Andover Boys Varsity Squash looks to the leadership of Graham Miao ’09 to lead the team back to the success reached in previous years. Heading into the demanding winter season, the Andover Boys Varsity Squash team looks to bounce back from last year’s tough end of the season with great success. Andover is just five games into the young season, two of which occurred during preseason scrimmages. The team recently faced Deerfield Academy on Wednesday and suffered a competitive 3-4 loss. Unfortunately, both Trey Meyer ’09 and John Bukawyn ’08 lost fierce five-game matches. Foster Jebsen ’08 and Dave Koppel ’08 lost their matches as well, despite each compiling impressive wins during preseason. Last Saturday the team faced both Choate and Taft at home, beating Taft but falling to a very strong Choate team. Miao won the first match against Choate, setting a good tone for the rest of the game. However, he had to default from injury after losing the second and third matches. Andover was unable to recover despite the team’s hard work and effort, eventually losing by a final tally of 1-6. Koppel was the only Andover player to win his match against Choate. The team next rebounded with a victory over Taft. Each member of the team played well in their respective matches, contributing to the well deserved team win.Andrew Chan ’08 suffered the only loss, but the team upheld its momentum and defeated Taft with a score of 6-1. Before heading into the winter season the Boys Squash team played two preseason matches against Tabor and Deerfield. On December 1 the team played Tabor but lost 1-6. At Tabor everyone played to the best of their ability after only a few weeks of practice. Meyer had the only victory, beating his opponent 3-0. The squad eagerly came back ready to play the next week and defeated their opponents at Deerfield 4-3 in a very close match. The Deerfield team had improved a lot from last season, but Andover came out strong and grabbed the victory with the help of a few good wins from Meyer, Jebsen, Bukawyn and Jordan Zanazzi’08. After only a few games this season, the team has a solid record and looks to keep up the good work. Miao said “I’d say the season’s looking very promising…and I expect we’ll be able to win many of the upcoming matches.” This year there are five experienced seniors in the top eight. Bukawyn, Chan, Jebsen, Koppel, Zanazzi and Jimmy Xu ’08 all return with a lot of good skill and leadership to contribute to the team. The team looks to develop greatly throughout the season with hard work and spirited practices. It is scheduled to play 18 games and will work hard toward interschols at the end of the season. Under the guidance of Coach Tom Cone, the team is looking ahead to a successful season.
