Captain Ali Zindman ’07 didn’t drop a point en route to her victory Saturday, leading the Andover Girls Squash team past Brooks 6-1 on the road. Though the contest was more competitive than the lopsided score would indicate, it was one of Andover’s most decisive wins of the season. However, the team was not able to carry that momentum into Wednesday’s match, as it lost 4-3 to Nobles and Greenough at home. Diana Willson ’07, the team’s number two player, was sidelined by illness. This meant that everyone below her on the ladder moved up one position and encountered tougher opposition than they might have been used to. The positional changes most radically impacted Lizzie Chan ’08, who had recently moved up from the Junior Varsity squad. With Willson absent, Chan was placed at number seven in the starting lineup. She jumped out to an early lead, winning the first two games. But her opponent did not surrender. Her serve improved as the match progressed, and Chan sometimes struggled returning it. Though Chan consistently kept her shots to the other player’s backhand, she ended up losing 10-9 in the fifth game and 3-2 in the match. At number two, Pawina Jiramongkolchai ’06 recovered from a 2-0 deficit to secure a win. Despite getting off to a slow start, she capitalized on her opponent’s range-limiting two-handed backhand. Jiramongkolchai effectively combined high rails and drop shots to the backhand side in achieving the comeback win. Stephanie Marton ’07 won in similar fashion at number five. The rest of the wins were more convincing. Carolyn Brown ’09 and Lydia Smith ’09, playing at positions three and four respectively, both won in four games. Captain Zindman won at the first position, while Lucretia Witte ’06 also won in three games by overpowering her opponent at number six. On Wednesday, Andover lost a tight match with Nobles and Greenough. Hodgson recognized before the match that his squad would be the underdog; Nobles and Greenough had beaten Exeter, a powerhouse, 5-2 earlier in the season. Despite a valiant effort, Andover was unable to overcome the odds and lost 4-3. The teams split positions two through seven, leveling the competition at three with Captain Zindman’s match still in progress. She had won the first game 10-8 but did not maintain the lead. Her opponent won the next three games to secure both a personal and team victory.
