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It was a long and satisfying two days of squash at Exeter. The Andover girls played well and earned a respectable 12th place in the A Division draw of 16 teams. Final matches against Hotchkiss and Deerfield opponents enabled PA to place ahead of both in the final standings. Top results for the Blue were an 8th place finish for upper Ali Zindman in the #1 draw and a 9th place finish for upper Stephanie Marton in the #7 draw.
The girls varsity squash team competed well in a tri-meet at Brooks on Friday. Without their number 1 and number 6 players, PA fell to Middelesex 4-3. At #3, Carolyn Brown played a wonderful match against a fine opponent--Middlesex's former #1. Intelligent adjustments and relentless hustle produced a thrilling win in the 5th game. In a best-of-three games limited format match against Brooks, Andover secured a 6-1 victory. Notable was a fine win at #1 by Diana Willson against an athletic Brooks player. The team will finish their season with Exeter away on Wednesday and Interschols at Exeter on Friday and Saturday.
In the second match of the season between these two girls varsity squash teams, an excellent Groton team defeated PA 7-0 on the Groton courts Wednesday afternoon. Andover has definitely improved since the last meeting, but Groton proved to be too good and too deep.
On Friday the girls varsity squash travelled to Deerfield, and although Deerfield won 5-2, the match was much closer than the final score suggests. PA won the matches at #1 Ali Zindman (3-0) and #7 Stephanie Marton (3-1), lost 3-0 at #2 and #3, but battled til the bitter end at #4 and #6. Carolyn Brown kept herself in her match by winning two "overtime" games in the first four. At 9-9 in the fifth game, she tinned a drop that would have clinched the match, and lost the next point to go dowm 10-9. At #6, Lucretia Witte made adjustments to her game made necessary by the high court temperature and the resulting liveliness of the ball. From 2 games down, she rallied to even the score at 2-2, only to lose 10-8 in the fifth. Three points and a couple of inches was all that separated the Andover team from an upset 4-3 victory.
The girls varsity squash team lost to St Paul's on Wednesday 5-2. Ali Zindman at #1 and Lucretia Witte at #6 earned wins for PA. Two of the other matches went to 4 games, so on balance, it was a good, competitive match overall.
On Saturday the Lady Blue varsity squash team played at Milton, both Andover and Milton competing with depleted squads due to a training program occurring on Saturday. Without captain Ali Zindman '07, Pawina Jiramongkolchai '06 played at number 1 and Diana Willson '07 at number two, both losing their matches. Though number three Carolyn Brown '09 had a tough match, she and the rest of the Andover line-up went on to post W's for a 5-2 victory.
On Wednesday Girls squash lost 4-3 to Noble and Greenough, despite several long and hard-fought matches. Most notable was the intense 4-game match of number 1, Ali Zindman '07, which she ultimately lost. Pulling through with wins for the Big Blue were number 4 Carolyn Brown '09, number 6 Lucretia Witte '06, and number 7 Stephanie Marton '07.
Despite the absence of #2 Diana Willson who was ill and did not play, the girls varsity squash team came away from their match with Brooks on Saturday 6-1 winners. Three of the matches went to 5 games highlighted by Andover's Pawina Jiramongkolchoi and Stephanie Maton coming back from 2-0 deficits to win in exciting fashion.
Today against Groton, Andover saw what an experienced and well trained team really looks like. Missing number 2 Diana Willson, Andover lost 7-0 to Groton without winning a single game.
On Saturday against Exeter, with a full squad and the return of Captain Ali Zindman, the Andover girls varsity squash team got wins from Stephanie Marton at 6, Lucretia Witte at 7 and Ali Zindman at 1. The team was not as fortunate in the 2-5 slots as the PA girls played well but were defeated in some tough matches by their Exeter counterparts. Final Score: PEA - 4 PA - 3
On Friday, without their number one Ali Zindman, the Blue held strong in the bottom end of the ladder against Middlesex but lost several tight matches at numbers one, two, and three. Middlesex claimed the overall match by a score of 4-3
The PA girls varsity squash team hosted Choate on Saturday early in a long day of home games for the second match in their season. Despite a relatively easy win in their first match against Tabor, the Lady Blue found Choate a much more difficult opponent and ultimately lost 6-1. Captain Ali Zindman ’07 was the only player to earn a win (3-1) against the stacked Choate team, with every other Andover player losing 3-0. Though Zindman lost the first game 9-7 because of errors and a slow start, hitting deeper and with more precision she surrendered only one point in the next three games( 9-0, 9-1, 9-0). The closest other matches were played by newcomers Carolyn Brown ’09 (5-9, 9-10, 6-9) and Steph Marton ’07 (6-9, 0-9,5-9). Andover showed some vacation rustiness and, with only three returning players, had much less experience than the Choate team, where the depth is such that several varsity players from last year have been bumped down to the middle of JV. Coach Tom Hodgson hopes that as the season goes on experience will equip the new team members to give Choate a run for their money at Interschols.
Lineup:
1) Ali Zindman ’07 (C, R) 7-9, 9-0, 9-1, 9-0 Andover
2) Lydia Smith ‘09 9-0, 9-1, 9-0 Choate
3) Diana Willson ’07 (R) 9-2, 9-2, 9-0 Choate
4) Pawina Jiramongkolchai ’06 (R) 9-5, 9-1, 9-2 Choate
5) Carolyn Brown ’09 9-5, 10-9, 9-6 Choate
6) Stephanie Marton ’07 9-6, 9-0, 9-5 Choate
7) Lucretia Witte ’06 9-3, 9-2, 9-3 Choate |
