News Staff Reporter
Boasting a 7-1 record, the Girls Varsity Squash Team started off its season strongly with two consecutive wins against Exeter (6-1) and, for the first time in many years, Taft (4-3). The contest against Taft was intense and exciting as Choate’s bottom four players saved the day, winning each of their matches in only three games. The top three players, #1 Lily Cohen ’07, #2 Elli Foster ’08, and #3 Anne Cheng ’07, fought hard but could not pull through with a win.
Captain Rana Searfoss ’06 says her proudest moment “would definitely have been [the match] against Taft. It was really exciting: I heard [Taft’s] Captain say, ‘We’re so much more experienced than they are!’ and hearing how we had experience was excellent.” Coach Ms. Amy Salot agreed with Searfoss, “I think my proudest moment came pretty early when we beat Taft, which was a big win. They are a very strong team this year, but we snuck by them... that was the moment we realized that we could really do some good damage ...that match propelled us into the rest of the season and we’ve never looked back.”
Choate suffered its first loss against Greenwich Academy, a school known for its superior skill in squash. All of the Boars lost their match, but nevertheless fought hard, “forcing their opponents into long points and closely-contested matches,” said Coach Salot. However, Choate quickly picked up the pace and won four games in a row, each with a score of 6-1, against Andover, Loomis Chaffee, Miss Porter’s, and Kingswood-Oxford. The 7-0 demolition of Westminster capped off their winning streak. The team still has five matches left in the season, in addition to the National Championships and the New England Girls Squash Championships.
Many of the girls who were on the team last season are on the team again: only three seniors graduated last year (with only one being in the top seven) and only two new players joined this year. However, many of the girls last year were young and inexperienced, and the team did not do as well as it would have liked. However, the girls on this year’s team, having experienced a whole season of squash (and, for several, a summer of squash), are much more experienced and mature athletes.
“Our results are a lot better from last season,” said Searfoss. In regard to last year’s team, Coach Salot noted that she felt it was a “transitional year to a new team...[the girls this year] are just so much better than they were last year. No comparison. We are significantly more talented than last year.”
The two new players on the team, Maggie Remsen ’08 and Andrea Mui ’08, “are both excellent,” continued Searfoss. The #1 player, Lily Cohen, who faces some of the best squash players in the area, fights extremely hard every single match. As Coach Salot said, “she faces competition that the rest of our team will never face...she just keeps getting better and better. She’s a really impressive player both physically and mentally.” Rana Searfoss also has a hard job as captain of the team, but she is excellent at it and “just wonderful,” said Coach Salot. “She’s so sweet and nice and tries so hard to keep the team working hard and positive.”
The team chemistry is “awesome,” in the words of Coach Salot. “There are ten, very different girls on the team, all styles and forms are represented, yet they’re all totally goofy and fun...but they also all really like to work hard and work each other hard. It’s just a perfect combination,” she said.
Their camaraderie is impressive, especially because of the level of competition required in the sport. “Every week we play ladder matches, so you’re literally going head to head with your teammate for a position, and sometimes it can be incredibly intense, and yet at the end of the match they shake hands or give each other a hug and it’s over. The level of competition with each other doesn’t seem to interfere with the camaraderie or the good times. It’s impressive.”
Searfoss said that she believes the terrific team chemistry owes itself somewhat to last year and the bonds that were developed and established then. “We know everyone already...and we’re getting along very well. It makes practices a lot of fun.”
In addition to the coach’s goal of keeping everyone healthy, and the captain’s goal of having “the best year possible,” the girls are also hoping to do well in New Englands. “For the last two years we have not played up to tournament level, so I’d love to see the change this year, and I think if any year we can do it, it’s this year,” says Coach Salot. “Aside from [Groton and Greenwich Academy], we’re definitely in the next level, so placing third [in the tournament] would make me really happy; but three, four, or five- somewhere in there- would be really cool.”
