On February 8th, the Poly Prep JV squash program hosted Portledge in the last regular season match for both teams. The boys, protecting their undefeated season and the ladies, off of a string of extremely strong mathes, both had a lot to play for in front of an extremely enthusiastic crowd. The team from Portledge was a much more experienced varsity squad made completely of boys, but the players especially the ladies, made the necessary adjustments to their games and played extremely well. The match began with a battle between Poly #7 Nicole Colandrea and Portledge's Sam Lerner. Nicole's well placed shots put her in position to win but she eventually lost a great battle in four sets. Seventh grader Lena Khalifa also had a four set battle which she lost, but her precice shotmaking and powerful stroke show great promise for the future. #5 John Lennon turned the tides of the match with a dominating straight victory followed by similarly powerful victories by freshman Christian Park and sophmore Abe Etkin. It was a great end to the season when co-captains Aron Schwartz closed out the victory with straight set victories and did what the team did all year, which was win.
The match was followed by a great team victory for the entire JV program as the entire team watched #8 Charlotte Bowditch
play some great squash in a 2-1 loss and a ice bath for one unexpecting coach. It has been a great season for Poly Prep squash and both teams show great promise for the future. The boys team's 10-0 record bodes well for a great showing at Nationals against varsity squads from around the country and for the future of the boys program in general. Both teams are looking forward to the trip up to New Haven this weekend and are hoping for a similar result!
Poly Prep def Portledge 5-2
Vincent Giovinazzo (PP) def Zach Cooper (Portledge) 11-2,1,4
Aron Schwartz (PP) def Sam Melman (Portledge) 11-4,2,5
Abe Etkin (PP) def Evan Adonaito (Portledge) 11-2,6,2
Christian Park (PP) def Alex Snow (Portledge) 11-2,6,7
John Lennon (PP) def Ryan Krown (Portledge) 11-3,2,2
Lena Khalifa (PP) lost to Neil Nelonuthea (Portledge) 2-11,11-9,8-11,8-11
Nicole Colandrea (PP) lost to Sam Lerner (Portledge) 7-11,13-15,11-6,8-11
Exhibition:
Charlotte Bowditch (PP) lost to Charlie Hobbs 9-11,11-6,9-11
