It’s been a very busy and exciting time for the Boys Varsity Squash Team. After enjoying the holiday break, the Varsity and JV teams returned to action with a couple of practices at the Dresher Courts before hitting the road and travelling overnight to Philadelphia on an all-teams training weekend trip alongside the Girls Varsity and JV programs. In Philadelphia, the teams had the opportunity to train at The Episcopal Academy, one of the most prestigious national programs in the country who have won numerous national titles and boasts a facility of 10 state of the art squash courts. After a full day of practice on Friday, the teams travelled to see the squash facilities at Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania before retiring to prepare for the next day’s matches with Germantown Friends School and Conestoga.
For the Boys Varsity, these matches against Germantown Friends and Conestoga proved to be extremely competitive and exciting with the Varsity emerging victorious 4-3 against GFS and 6-1 against Conestoga. With great atmosphere and the opportunity to play teams we don’t normally play, the trip provided us with great match play experience and preparation for the upcoming HS Nationals Competition at Trinity College in February. In these matches, we showed that we are capable of playing competitively alongside the Philadelphia league—one of the strongest in the country.
On Sunday, the team then travelled to Haverford School and played one of the best teams in the country. While the boys lost 1-6, it was a great experience for our team and we managed to play the match competitively. Senior Captain, Sam Chudner, playing in the # 5 position managed to be undefeated throughout the weekend. It was a great weekend with plenty of squash and team bonding that has catapulted our team forward into the second half of the season.
Coming off of the momentum from the Philadelphia trip, the Boys then returned to action with a home match against Delbarton School at the Poly courts on Tuesday afternoon. Playing with a renewed discipline, the Varsity took control of the match early on and came out with a convincing 5-2 victory. The team then travelled Wednesday afternoon to Ivy League Rival, Horace Mann and lost a tight match 3-4 with wins coming from Sam Chudner at # 5, Will Eckstein at # 6, and Abe Etkin at # 7. The intensity was high and the Blue Devils look to avenge their loss this coming Wednesday in a rematch on the Poly home courts.
Following the match against Horace Mann, the Blue Devils rebounded to defeat Pingry 4-3 on Oasis Night. In front of a packed crowd and with the score tied at 3-3, Senior Captain, Rafael Gamba, playing in the # 4 slot sealed the victory for the Blue Devils with a very poised, measured, and focused 3-1 victory under the pressure. This was the third time in Gamba’s career that he has won the match for the Blue Devils with the team score on the line after doing so twice last year---first against Packer at the HS Nationals, and second against Hackley for the Ivy League title. It was a tremendous moment for the team and an impressive win against a very solid team in a much needed victory as the Blue Devils keep their hopes alive of reaching the top division and being recognized as one of the top 16 teams in the country at the HS Nationals in early February.
The Varsity then followed up this performance with a very impressive 3rd place finish in their first ever appearance at the Choate Invitational. Playing against some of the most prestigious New England boarding schools in a one day shortened match format, the Blue Devils defeated Choate, Salisbury, and Trinity School of Canada before falling in a tightly contested match to Taft and Deerfield Academy. It was another great exposure opportunity for our team as they hope to get another chance to play these teams at the HS Nationals. One particular highlight of the event included Freshman standout Yehia Essam’s opportunity to play the best player in the history of HS Squash—Deerfield’s Osama Khalifa. In addition, Freshman, Will Cembalest and Junior, Vincent Giovinazzo all managed to play toe-to-toe with top boarding school players throughout the day and come up with big results. For Cembalest, he won his match in the # 3 position against Taft while Giovinazzo did the same in the # 3 position against Choate.
The Varsity team next plays Horace Mann on Wednesday and is now 10-7 overall, and 3-1 in the Ivy League. Stay tuned for the next report!
It’s been a tremendous season with great leadership from Captains Nate Johnson, Sam Chudner, and Rafael Gamba. Thanks for all of your support.
