The first competition of the year for boys varsity squash at Hopkins took place in the Kneisel Squash Center on the afternoon and evening of Saturday, December 6. The annual 8 team Hopkins Invitational Squash Tournament took place, with the Squash Haven team taking first place with 59 points, Millbrook School coming in second with 49 points, Hopkins finishing a very respectable third with 41 points, followed closely by Kingswood-Oxford School with 38 points.
This proved to be an interesting test for Hopkins, which started three of its seven players with little or no previous varsity experience. Junior Will Simon played in the #7 singles flight for Hopkins, and won his first match handily against an opponent from Kingswood-Oxford School before bowing to a strong opponent from Millbrook School in the semi-finals. In the 3rd place playoff, Will played superbly against Nick Randolph of Williston, coming through with a well deserved 11/3, 11/5 victory.
At #6 singles, Mike McCarthy found himself pitted against Andrew Bortley of Canterbury and forged out a hard fought 11/9, 11/6 win. In Mike's semi-final match, he played some of his best squash but wound up dropping an 11/5, 3/11, 11/7 contest to eventual winner Will Bliss of Millbrook. Then in the 3rd place playoff match, Mike again fought very hard but lost an extremely close match to an equally determined Chris Marcello of Kingswood-Oxford, 5/11, 11/7, 12/10.
Moving up to the #5 spot, quick footed Simon Doss-Gollin convincingly won his first match against Loren Po of Williston, 11/1, 11/8, but then dropped his semi-final contest to top seeded Joemar Aviles of Squash Haven, 11/6, 11/6. And in the 3rd place playoff contest, Simon hustled to the best of his ability but dropped a close 11/7, 14/12 decision to an experienced player, Christian Arntzen from Millbrook.
Matt Fiedler at #4 singles came out strong, easily defeating an opponent from Suffield Academy in his quarter final match. Facing varsity experienced Josh Pugliese of Kingswood-Oxford in the semi-finals, Matt was able to carve out a very competitive 11/9, 11/6 win. In the finals, Matt wound up dropping an equally competitive contest with defending #4 singles champion from a year ago, Carmelo Reyes of Squash Haven, 11/9, 11/5.
Co-captain and senior Alex Liu represented Hopkins at the #3 singles position, and won his first match against Aaron Kan of Canterbury, 11/1, 11/7. Then Alex found himself faced against Ryan Westman of Kingswood-Oxford in the semi-finals. Points were long and hard, but in the end, Ryan held the upper hand with an 11/9, 11/7 victory over Alex. Alex also dropped his 3rd place playoff match to a very strong opponent from Millbrook, 2 games to 0.
Ninth grader Gyan Maria represented Hopkins at the tough and challenging #2 singles position, and had the misfortune to draw eventual winner Alex Wattles of Millbrook in his first match, putting Gyan into the consolation draw. Gyan wasted no time in defeating Juan Caldes of Canterbury, dominating in 11/8, 11/3 fashion. In the 5th place playoff match, Gyan found himself placed against nationally ranked Brooks Doll of Trinity-Pawling and played his opponent point for point, winding up coming just short in a thriller of a match, 6/11, 11/9, 11/9.
Co-captain and junior Spencer Lovejoy showed why he is one of the top juniors in the country by easily dominating his first two matches--against Kevin Li of Williston and Jeremy Carrasquillo of Suffield--without the loss of a single game. The finals proved to be a rematch against Egyptian squash recruit Ziad El Mandouh of Trinity-Pawling. Play was indeed fast and furious, with blazing drives and volleys down the wall being mingled with deft drop shots and amazing gets from both players. Spencer won the first game 11/6, but then Ziad became increasingly determined to get himself back into the match, eventually winning the second game 14/12 with points that left the gallery spellbound by the amazing quality of play on the part of both competitors. In the final game, Spencer regained his touch on his front court shots as well as deep down the wall forehand drives to the back wall that died in that back corner, winning the final game 11/5 to become the tournament champion in the #1 singles flight.
The first dual meet contest of the season for the Hopkins varsity comes up on the afternoon of Friday, December 12 against Rye High School at the Kneisel Squash Center. And this will be followed shortly by an away match at Kent School the following afternoon. The early season preparation of playing in the Hopkins Invitational Squash Tournament should prove to be a major boost to our team in these upcoming two matches.
With best regards,
William L. Ewen Teacher of mathematics, 1968--2008 Varsity boys tennis coach, 1968--2012 Junior varsity boys tennis coach, 2012--2014 Varsity boys squash coach, 2008--2012 Assistant varsity boys squash coach, 2012--2014
Special Thanks to coaches Bill Ewen, Sean Gibbon, Michael Gold and Richard Thornburgh for running a spectacular tournament!
Hopkins is a private middle school and high school for grades 7-12. Located on a campus overlooking New Haven, CT, the School takes pride in its intellectually curious students as well as its dedicated faculty and staff.