Sean-Winston Luo ’24 is Andover’s third seed player and rated 5.48 on U.S. Squash.
Andover Boys Squash had a successful week, sweeping Noble and Greenough this past Friday 7-0 and defeating its rival, Hotchkiss, 4-3 the following day. Andover then went on to beat St. Paul’s 5-2 on Wednesday. The team’s record now stands at 10-2.
According to Jaden Chyu ’23, the match against Hotchkiss was one of the most entertaining matches of the entire season, due to the intensity and competitiveness in the match.
“When we played Hotchkiss, it was definitely one of the highlight matches of the season. Just going in, they were one of the toughest schools we will face during the season and we’re just really good rivals with them. Even before going into the game, we were really hyped to face them, but then we did have a missing player Christian Graziano. He’s our number one. We were still able to pull off a clutch victory 4-3 over them which was really nice,” said Chyu.
Sean-Winston Luo ’24 agreed, stating that Hotchkiss was an important match, particularly because the teams do not get along. Additionally, Luo noted that the match against Nobles was more of a tune up for the big match of the weekend against Hotchkiss.
Luo said, “The highlight was Hotchkiss, and we’ve been having a rivalry with them for a while because we recruit a lot of the same kids. We have beef with a lot of the kids on the team there, so that was a really good win, 4-3. A lot of the boys pulled off really close matches. I went up two against some kid that was way better than me, so that was a huge win. Then our four had a really big win as well, Bryce Farr [’23]. Nobles was kind of just like a warm up match. I think we won 7-0 and we were away, so that was a really good win as well. But, overall Hotchkiss was a huge win that kind of helps our seeding for New Englands which is coming up.”
Chyu highlighted Luo as a player that fought impressively on the court against Hotchkiss. Chyu mentioned that without Luo’s efforts, the team wouldn’t have ended up on top of its opponents.
“I want to give a shoutout to [Sean-Winston Luo]. He stepped up against a completely tough matchup with a really strong player. Without his victory, we would’ve lost 4-3, so the tie of the game itself could’ve turned so quickly, so fast. We were up three-love in terms of the game at the start. In the end we beat them barely, 4-3, because they’re a really tough competitor. I just want to commend [my] teammates for holding focus and just keeping focus throughout the game so just cheering for each other until the very end,” Chyu said.
With many players out due to injuries in the weeks prior, Andover was sure to bring the intensity and drive to Saturday’s match, according to Avery Lin ’25. Lin highlighted Chyu as a team member that stood out during the meet.
Lin said, “We focused on our mentality. We knew it was going to be a hard match… I think one person that shone through was Jaden Chyu. He became a real leader on this team. Bringing in the crowd and just upping our general morale.”
According to Luo, the team has been working on maintaining stamina during practices, a key skill that is essential for any match, and particularly important in a match as competitive as the one against Hotchkiss.
“I think we’ve been working a lot on endurance, especially because we’ve been playing a lot of matches. We can’t really get tired so we’ve been doing a lot of fitness, endurance type of stuff in practice,” said Luo.
Andover will face Choate away this Saturday.
Editor’s Note: Jaden Chyu is a News Editor for The Phillipian.
