Andover Boys Squash suffered three 7-0 losses this week against Westminster, Choate and Exeter, falling to 3-9 on the season. Andover faced Westminster and Choate without Alec Buck ’13, who was sick. T.J. Lenzo ’12 did not play against Exeter. Both the Choate and Westminster matches were held on Saturday at Westminster.
About the dual match, Mr. Hodgson said, “These are two teams we knew would be stronger, and with Alec Buck out, he had been sick all week, that made it even less likely that we would pull an upset.
Westminster’s number one seeded player won the U.S. Open 19 and under division. Kun Woo Kim ’14 said, “Westminster was one of the best teams we played this season, especially their number one, who I had to play. He is the best U19 player in the US and most likely to be the number one in the World U19. Playing him was extremely challenging and fun at the same time since he had tremendous talent in squash. We tried our best, but the gap was too big.”
Against Westminster, Kim, Alex Demeulenaere ’13, Lenzo, Malachi Price ’13, and Reid Bradt ’15 lost in three games. Justin Curtis ’15 lost in four games 11-9, 6-11, 9-11, and 1-11. Cam Morose ’13 lost in five games 8-11, 11-9, 15-13, 4-11, and 9-11.
Mr. Hodgson said, “Justin played a close match at number four. Cam lost at number five, but he pushed [his opponent] to the limit. He plays tight balls along the wall and covers the court magnificently, he makes his opponents empty their tanks, and he moves very well.”
Morose said, “I am glad that I was able to play such a close match because of all the valuable experience I gained from it.”
Andover also couldn’t challenge Choate, losing 7-0 despite several close matches. Demeulenaere and Curtis each lost games in overtime, but they, as well as Kim and Bradt, lost in three games. Lenzo lost his first game 6-11, dropped his second game a fought back to win the third 11-8, but lost the fourth game 2-11. Morose won his first game 11-6 but then dropped his next three 8-11, 9-11, and lost the fourth game in overtime 11-13. Price lost a very close match in five games 7-11, 13-11, 11-8, 5-11, 6-11.
Kim said, “Although we already played Choate, we were missing our number four Alec Buck. This definitely hurt the team. Choate is a very solid and deep team.”
Mr. Hodgson continued, “We played some decent squash and lost 0-7. Choate is a good division two team. There were some times when the guy was up-front and we needed to hit it deep, and some other basic shot selections needed work, but on a whole we played OK.”
In Wednesday’s sweep by Exeter, Morose, Curtis, and Buck all had overtime games but they each lost 3-0. Demeulenaere kept the first two games close losing each 8-11, but he lost the third game 2-11. Price and Bradt also lost their matches 3-0.
Andover will compete in highschool nationals this weekend at Avon Old Farms and Miss Porter’s School. Mr. Hodgson said, “We’ll be playing teams right around the same level that we are, so if we play intelligently all the matches will be close.”
