Big Red boys’ varsity squash lost their second match of the season with the final score at 3-4 against a talented Milton team. Their season has started off fairly slow with two checks in the loss column. Despite the two early losses, the team looks forward to a promising season.In Wednesday’s match, uppers Rex Tercek and Will Ettinger pulled out two great wins for the team. Unfortunately, their efforts did not lead to a team victory.
“We all played well, but Rex Tercek and Will Ettinger were fantastic in their matches.”
Captain and senior Phillip Chang spoke on their successes. “We all played well, but Rex Tercek and Will Ettinger were fantastic in their matches,” he said. “They both dug deep and pulled out great wins for the team.”Lower Darius Kahan agreed with Chang, and expressed his reaction to Ettinger’s upbeat and impressive play. “Will was extremely determined to win the match. He’s an enthusiastic and optimistic player on the team,” he said.Although there were stand-out performances, overall, the team did not perform as well as they could have. One of Exeter’s biggest problems against Milton was the nerves that the athletes had going into their matches, which led to mistake after mistake. Chang believed that the players’ mental game must improve throughout the season. “We could definitely get better on channeling our nervous energy during our matches,” he said.
As the season moves forward, and more matches add to the athletes’ belts, nerves should be less of an issue in matches. In addition to the nerves, lack of experience played a prominent role in Wednesday’s loss. This year, several new athletes are on the team, including five preps, and Wednesday marked only the season's second match.Although it was only the second match, the new athletes possibly impressed even more than the higher ranked players. “So far, the lower ranked players on the team are very good. Nearly all of them won today,” Kahan said. “But the upper end of the team is going to have a tough time because Exeter plays the schools who recruit squash athletes.”Despite the loss, Chang believed that each player played their hardest and to the best of their ability. “Although I'm disappointed by the results, I am proud of the way each player held themselves on court and the effort each and every one of them gave,” he said.Chang said that the early season will bring some hardships, but the impressive play of the young athletes and the motivation of the players will push the team to success. “I feel as though we have a deep team, and we're all looking forward to improving upon last year's successes,” he said.
