Girls’ Squash Defeats Milton
Girls' squash faced off against Milton Academy on Wednesday, Feb. 1. The varsity team won in an exciting 4-3 triumph, and the junior varsity easily won with a combined match score of 6-1. On Saturday, the girls played a tough match against Winsor School, with the varsity losing 2-5 and junior varsity 1-6.
For the Wednesday game against Milton, senior and co-captain Serena Cho was very happy with the team’s performance, considering the difficulty of the games. “I am so proud of how we played on Wednesday—Milton’s one of the best teams in the nation and in my past four years here, we’ve never beaten them,” Cho said. Despite Milton having better technique, Cho felt that Exeter’s mental game was much higher. “They may have been slightly better than us in terms of technique as they recruit many players who’ve been playing since they’re very young, but our mental game was so much better than theirs.”
“They may have been slightly better than us in terms of technique as they recruit many players who’ve been playing since they’re very young, but our mental game was so much better than theirs.”
Like any other match, every member of the girls’ squash team gave it their all. “Everyone put up their hardest fight, and with our willingness and dedication to perfecting that one shot, or really getting to the ball, we ended up winning.” Even though Milton was a tough opponent, Cho won her match 3-0. “Everyone was watching my game and it was 2-0, 10-9 when the fire alarm rang. We had to clear the building, so we waited for around 30 minutes and finished the match as I proceeded to win that last point in around 30 seconds!”
Although the team celebrated the narrow victory and Cho’s delayed win, it did not find the same success three days later against Winsor.
Lower Ursula Sze, the team’s number two seed, eagerly wanted to win her match against the tough Winsor opponent. Despite feeling optimistic at the beginning, Sze felt that many wanted to have played better. Like the other team members, she agreed that the team had a high morale. “We are all very supportive of each other. I am thankful to have Euwie next to me during my games to give me good advice. I always trust what she says and she helped me come back in the third game.”
Lower Chandler Jean-Jacques also felt that Big Red fought well in the match. “Even though we lost, all of us fought hard until the end,” she said. She also agreed about the team morale and complimented the captains’ encouragement. “Our team is very close and push each other every day in practice so we can improve before each match. Serena Cho, one of our team captains, always reminds us to play with conviction and with passion,” she said. She is very happy to be able to attend Nationals due to the team’s hard work. “Because of our ability to focus and work hard, we have been able to not only have a great season but make Division 1 for Nationals,” Jean-Jacques said.
Lower Bella Ilchenko said that the girls are training hard each day this week with the goal of succeeding at Nationals on Feb. 11. They are competing in Division 1 for the first time, which is a big accomplishment. As a result, the girls will be facing fierce competition and need to play their strongest if they want to win their matches.