This Saturday, in a tough double header, the Andover Boys Varsity Squash team lost to both Taft and Choate. Although it played some great individual matches, Andover could not secure the victory. Taft, an incredibly deep team, was able to breeze by the Andover with a final score of 6-1. At the number two spot, Captain Dan Wagman ’06 was the only member of the team to win his match, winning in three quick games. The scores were 9-6, 9-4, and 9-3, showing that Wagman maintained control of the match in its entirety. Teammate Danny Silk ’07 said of Wagman’s match, “Dan played a really great match, hitting the corners and keeping his opponent behind him before attacking.” At the number one spot, Derek de Svastich ’06 lost three games to one to an unbelievably skilled opponent. De Svastich won the first game 9-6, but was unable to hold on to the rest of the match. Of De Svastich’s match, Captain Wagman said, “To see him win that first game was incredible because his opponent has so much skill and experience.” Similarly, Sam Gould ’07 won an extremely close first game 10-8, but could not secure the victory. Coach Tom Cone said, “Taft has a great team with many talented players that run all the way down the ladder. We knew going into the match that it was going to be very tough. Unfortunately we were not able to gain the victories we needed toward the middle and bottom of our ladder.” Also, on Saturday, Andover faced Choate. Andover lost in a much closer 4-3 match, with many of the matches coming down to the fifth game. At the number one and two spots, de Svastich and Captain Wagman each won their matches with relative ease. At number three, Graham Miao ’09 lost in a hard-fought match in five games, and Simon Keyes ’06 was similarly unable to take his fifth. Owen Remeika ’06 needed to default due to a pulled muscle, giving Choate another win at the number five spot. In another five game match, Gould was able to put his opponent away, notching a win for Andover. Unfortunately Sam Woolford ’06 lost in the number seven spot, giving Choate the 4-3 win. Captain Wagman said, “This match was really unfortunate because there were so many close matches that came down the fifth game. Each of those matches could have gone either way, and we were just unlucky. However, everyone played really hard and left everything out on the court.” On Wednesday, Andover traveled to Deerfield, sweeping the team 7-0. Dan Wagman said of the match, “This was a great win that we really needed to raise our morale a bit after Saturday. Everyone played really well and did not give up whether they were winning or losing.” At the number three spot, Miao played a great match, winning three games to one after being down in two of the games by a significant amount. Also, Gould was down two games to none but fought his way back to win the match 3-2. Of his match, Captain Wagman said, “Sam won in a really hard-fought match today. He never got down on himself and kept playing until the end.” Coach Tom Cone was also proud of Andover’s play, saying, “This was a very secure win, everyone deserved it, and it was great to see everyone playing with so much enthusiasm.” Andover looks forward to playing at Groton this Friday.
