A Good First Day

Overall, the Martlets had a good first day at the 2019 HEAD U.S. High School Team Squash Championships, splitting their two matches. Playing in Division V at Loomis Chaffee School, the Black and Gold lost a heartbreaker to St. Andrew's 3-4 and then came roaring back to defeat Radnor 5-2. In the first match, Alex Unruh '22 won in three games at No. 1 (3, 9, 3) and Peter Miller '22 won in three games at No. 7 (6, 11, 6). Khalil Walker '19 and Sean Gregg '22 both battled hard in their contests but both lost in three games, Walker going down (8), (6), (6) at No. 2 and Gregg losing (5), (6), (5) at No. 3. In a seesaw match at No. 5, Nate Swift '19 alternated victories with his opponent before falling in the fifth game 6-11. That result was reversed for Ethan Na '19 at No. 6. Na also split the first four games and was facing elimination down 3-8 in the final game before rallying to take that decisive game 12-10. The whole team was cheering Na on because it needed that match to have a chance to win the overall match. That left Sam Pagon '21 at No. 4 battling for the match. Pagon lost the first game 9-11 but then rebounded to win the second game 11-8. As the scores suggest, this was a very even match. Unfortunately, Pagon ran out of gas in the next two games, falling at (6) and (4). Pagon earned a measure of redemption in the match against Radnor by defeating his opponent in three close games (10, 7, 7). Gregg also won in three games at No. 3 (8, 8, 8), while Scott Lee '20 won his match at No 7 in straight games as well (11, 6, 6). Swift lost another tough five-game match at No. 5 and Unruh lost in four games at No. 1 to a very talented player, (4), (10), 4, (8). At No. 2, Walker found himself in a big hole after consecutive 9-11 losses, but he found a way to regain his stability and he won the next three games 6, 12, 4. The 14-12 win in the fourth game was especially impressive, as Walker had to fend off several match balls. Once again, the player of the match was Na who played nearly flawless squash in winning in four games, 3, (11), 6 and 4. It would have been nice to win both matches, but the boys battled hard and never conceded an inch. Tomorrow the Martlets will play the Shipley in the consolation semifinals at 2 p.m. (also at Loomis Chaffee). It was exciting for the boys to play against teams it does not normally face during the regular season, St. Andrew's from Delaware and Radnor from Villanova, Penn.