Exeter Squash Smashes Tabor in 7-0 Victory

Playing in their last match before Nationals, Big Red squash asserted their dominance on Saturday and demolished Tabor Academy 7-0. Everything seemed to fall into place during the home game, and the players controlled their matches with unparalleled confidence, skill and focus.“Our match against Tabor was fantastic. Each one of our players went onto the courts confident and ready to win, and we did just that,” upper Philip Chang said. “We dominated each match, and only lost a total of 2 games out of 7 players.”Prep Darius Kahan added, “After a few rough matches at the start of the season, our team now has the experience to continue it's successes throughout the season.”Exeter heads to nationals today, where they face teams from all over the country in their division. After the victory on Saturday, players are hoping to sustain their power and concentration for the upcoming competition.“The match went really well for Exeter. We went out there with confidence and played our best,” captain Philip Shin said. “This win, along with the incredible win against Andover, hopefully will push our momentum into nationals, in which we have a very good chance of winning our division.”Kahan echoed Shin’s views. “During the last two matches against Andover and Tabor we went into the match with conviction and a desire to not only win, but destroy the opponent as quickly as possible. This intimidated our opponents and immediately gave us a head start to victory.”Kahan continued, noting the importance of the determination and morale that has flooded the team recently. “At every practice, I feel surrounded by a team passionate and eager to stretch their boundaries and a strong desire to improve both mentally and physically,” he said. “I think this bodes well for Nationals and hopefully we can pull off another victory. Who knows what the boundaries of success are when there's a constant hunger to surpass them? We now know what we are capable of.”Indeed, the team’s expectations are growing, thus other team members are reasserting the need to keep working hard, day in and out, for one common goal.“While the match was a sweep, I think our team should focus on not getting too carried away and remember to play hard and not take matches like this for granted,” Chang said. “With Nationals coming up, we'll need to play well and push in order to do well. We have a relatively solid lineup to play, which will make for a competitive and challenging time. Our improvement this year has been tremendous. Each varsity player has tuned and smoothed out their game, and our prospect for Nationals is looking great.”Along with their physical play, Big Red players have also improved the mental aspect of the game throughout the season. “All of us have been getting better at the mental aspect of the game, and hopefully wins like these will push our mental game forward,” Shin said.Exeter heads to Drexler University in Pennsylvania on Thursday, and the following day they face The Hackley School, a team from New York. Although the team has been strong this year, Big Red is going into the match with good morale and strong confidence.