The intrepid boys’ thirds squash team faced off in a rematch with Suffield’s JV squad on a relatively mild Saturday afternoon. They had handed us a tough 6-1 defeat in January, but as we reversed the score on Eaglebrook earlier in the year, a victory was far from an impossibility. Given our five-match home winning streak (and seeing that the visitors were a bit shorthanded today), Coach Speer was cautiously optimistic about the fellas’ chances. With our #4-7 players all at extremely similar ability levels, the bottom of the lineup would have to carry us if we hoped to pull off the upset.
Things looked good for Suffield initially, as we lost two straight-set battles at #2 and #4 (Justin holding a game point in the third before falling in overtime). Fortunately, Alex Kaminsky was dependable as ever in the #7 spot, shaking off a first-game loss to win his 10th consecutive match. Three more matches went out as Ethan was locked in a battle at #6, where he saved three game points to win the third game in overtime.
Tommy G jumped out to early leads in all three of his games, and Logan battled hard but came up short after barely dropping the first. Fortunately, Ethan totally turned things around after letting the fourth game get away from him; he ripped off four consecutive points from 3-2 and held on to take the fifth 11-5. This tied the match score at 3-3 and put the ball in Matthew’s hand to decide it.
The deciding match was a seesaw affair – Matthew went up 10-3 in the first game before barely closing it out 11-9, and he proceeded to drop the next two as his opponent dictated play with his serve. Fortunately, the birthday boy massively turned things around, taking the third 11-4 and going up 8-0 in the final game before finishing the job (fortunately, no Tom-Brady-like comeback was in the cards for Suffield).
Our hard-fought 4-3 win was capped by a tremendous amount of hustle from Alex Smith at #8, where he recovered after dropping the first game 11-2 to sneak past his opponent in 5 (going down 6-1 in the final game before catching fire).
Thanks to Mrs. Smith for her continued support (and donuts!) today. Our record stands at an impressive 9-3, putting us among the winningest winter sports (only trailing the 12 wins of boys’ JV hockey and 10 wins of girls’ varsity squash). A full week of practice precedes the annual DA-PA-CRH tri-match next weekend.
Deerfield 4, Suffield 3
Logan Knight lost 12-10, 11-5, 11-6
Nathan Hu lost 11-3, 11-7, 11-9
Tommy Gilmore won 11-7, 11-7, 11-8
Justin Lui lost 11-6, 11-5, 15-13
Matthew Wuyan won 11-9, 6-11, 9-11, 11-4, 11-2
Ethan Kelly won 12-10, 10-12, 13-11, 5-11, 11-5
Alex Kaminsky won 10-12, 11-3, 11-6, 11-7
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Alex Smith won 2-11, 11-9, 3-11, 11-8, 11-9