Andover Girls Squash secured a strong 6-1 victory against Brooks after the dedication ceremony of the Snyder Center on Saturday, extending the team’s undefeated record to 11 wins. The win was Andover’s first match since it placed sixth at the U.S. High School Team Squash Championships last week.
First seed Prianca Patel ’19 said, “Going into the match, the rest of the team knew they had pretty easy matches… so I think everyone was using their matches to work on things they’ve been practicing since nationals. Everyone definitely wanted to compete with integrity and intensity, and I think we all achieved that.”
In particular, the team aimed to hit the ball into difficult locations for their opponents to return, according to seventh seed Jennifer Lee ’18.
Lee said, “Our team hoped to remain consistent by hitting deep, tight rails to the back of the court. We looked for opportunities to volley the ball in order to take time away from our opponents.”
Fifth seed Skyler Spaulding ’20 who won her match 3-0, said, “I was trying to work on hitting deceptive shots, so I tried to make it look like I was going to hit a drop shot, and when I could tell my opponent was sneaking up to the front of the court, I hit to the back corner so she couldn’t get it.”
Additionally, the team sought to properly honor the final home match of the Senior class.
Spaulding said, “It was the Seniors’ last home match, so we were definitely just trying to put everything on the line, and I think [the Seniors] were really working on playing their best squash for their last match at Andover.”
She continued, “It was really nice to have all the support from the alumni and have a bunch of people there rooting for you and wanting you to do well.”
Andover was also able to rebound well after last week’s four-day-long championship, according to third seed Chelsea Cho ’21.
She said, “Something we did well I think was staying focused throughout the whole match, even though we just came back from a really long and challenging tournament [U.S. High School Team Squash Championships] over the weekend, and we were all really sore and tired, but we kept our focus and beat Brooks.”
Andover will travel to Phillips Exeter Academy for a game on Wednesday. Although it will be Andover’s second match against its rival team this season, following a 6-1 victory against Exeter on January 20, Andover looks to enter the matchup having honed its in-game abilities.
Cho said, “I think we’re still looking to improve on our game plan… like just hitting tight rails, attacking when we need to, and not being too indecisive when we have the chance.”
