Sports

Squash Falls to Groton

Amanda Howland ’11 stormed the courts in one of the first matches of the night last Friday, setting the tone by pulling out a hard fought win against her Groton opponent. After playing Groton earlier this season with disappointing results, the Girls Squash team knew it had to play its best to defeat Groton on its home courts. Coach Hodgson stressed that each girl needed to learn from her previous match and use it against her opponent to win. Kim Kohn ’10 used this advice to her advantage, beating out her Groton opponent in a close match. Despite this hard work and effort, Andover was unable to claim the victory against a challenging Groton squad and fell five matches to two. Senior Lydia Smith said, “Groton always has a good team and this year we couldn’t quite bring it all together when we played them. It was tough going on the road for losses on two separate occasions but I was extremely pleased about our progress.” The girls faced Exeter for the second time this season in their last dual team match of the season. After suffering a loss to Exeter on the road earlier in the season, Andover was anxious to host its archrival and avenge the earlier loss. Since the last match-up the Exeter ladder had changed significantly. Despite the challenging new lineup, every girl on the team fought hard against her Exeter opponent and showed significant improvement. Playing in the number four position, Kohn used her array of different shots and her quick feet to give her opponent a tough match. In her last match at home for Andover, Smith started out slow and dropped her first game. She battled back, however, eventually winning in four games. Carolyn Brown ’09 said, “This was a great match. I am really proud of the way that we played and by how much we clearly improved during the season. Our match today could have definitely gone either way.” The Exeter match eventually came down to the final points in the fifth game. Despite giving its best effort on the court, Andover lost by a final score of 2-5. Lauren Wilmarth ’09 said, “I am very happy that we ended the season on this note. I think that the team can and will channel our energy into playing well at Interschols this weekend.” This week marked the end of the regular season for Andover. This week the team will spend time practicing and refining its strokes for the competition at Interschols next weekend.