Girls' Varsity Squash Wins Some, Loses Some
Big Red’s girls’ varsity squash team traveled to the Loomis Chaffee School last Saturday to contest both the Taft and Loomis teams. Although they lost to Taft in the first round of matches with a close score of 3-4, the team snatched a win in their second round against Loomis with the score of 5-2. After these two matchups, the varsity team season record stands at 2-4.
"Although the absence of the top seed was a prominent complication, another problem that the members seemed to face was adapting to the individual strategies of schools they haven’t played yet during this season."
According to upper Ursula Sze, the double match with Taft and Loomis occurs annually. In the past, however, Big Red “usually loses to Taft and beats Loomis,” she said. In addition, this past weekend, the team was disadvantaged by missing their first seed, upper Euwie Park. This caused each of Exeter’s eight players that attended the tournament to advance by one individual rank. Sze expressed her belief that the presence of Park would have bolstered the team’s performances. “The game was really close with Taft, so we definitely could have crushed Taft with Euwie, but it ended up being a close loss with Taft and a win with Loomis,” she said.
On the contrary, senior Alexis Lee was not as resolute on whether or not Park would have created a significant difference in the final scores had she been able to participate. “I honestly can’t say how her being there would have affected the game,” Lee said. Instead, Lee applauded Sze for doing “a great job as the top player on Saturday.”
Although the absence of the top seed was a prominent complication, another problem that the members seemed to face was adapting to the individual strategies of schools they haven’t played yet during this season. In an earlier interview, Park mentioned that in a lot of matches, “you don’t know who you’re up against or who you’re going to play.”
Without being able to discern an opponent’s techniques, the players must catch onto each others’ strategies and work accordingly in order to secure a victory. Sze noticed this crucial component as one of her obstacles during her game. She explained that her opponent from Taft picked up her strategy after the second round. Realizing this, she “switched her game to a slower game where the ball died in the back,” and it worked for her, allowing her to win in the fourth round.
Upper and co-captain Chandler Jean-Jacques believed that the team may have also been negatively affected by their own attitude. After losing a close match to Taft, Jean-Jacques expressed her belief that the girls would have trouble “being in the correct mindset for the game.” Fortunately, Exeter brought home a victory against Loomis. It proved how well the team did in “coming back from the loss against Taft to beat Loomis.”
This Saturday, Big Red will be traveling to face Andover. In their first of two matchups against the rival school, the team will be looking to come out with a decisive win.