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Boys Junior Varsity Squash Overachieves, Overcoming Choate 4--3
On Wednesday, December 9, a contingent of 16 junior varsity boys
squash players made the 1/2 hour trip from New Haven to Wallingford to
take on the always formidable Choate boys junior varsity squash team.
Last year's score at the Hopkins Kneisel Squash Center had been 5--2
in favor of Choate, and scores before that had been 7--0 in Choate's
favor. So our team went to this match simply determined to do the
best we could do and let the chips fall where they may. Our Hopkins
players came exclusively from grades 9 and 10, whereas the top five
players on Choate's lineup were from grade 11. So clearly we had our
work cut out for us!
The top 7 matches on the two teams' ladder were the ones that would
count on the official record, and yet the other matches would also
prove to be invaluable in providing a number of 9th and 10th graders a
great taste of what a competitive match would be like.
We started out on Choate's 10 court complex with matches for the
number 2,4,6,8,10, & 12 players on our teams' ladders. Abir Singh at
Hopkins' #2 singles position got Hopkins off to a strong start with
hard hit and well placed forehand drives deep to the back corners,
besting Choate's Leander Vergera 11/5, 12/10, 11/3. But Choate
countered with a hard fought victory at #4, with Hopkins' Nikhil
Etikela working hard but coming up short 12/10, 11/8, 11/6, to even
the match at one apiece. The key match in the first round pitted
Hopkins #6 Ajay Mitra against Choate's Krishan Hinzer. Balls were
very hard struck and both players hustled hard to retrieve balls from
all 4 corners of the court. The battle see-sawed back and forth, and
Ajay put forth his most determined efforts in the final two games to
emerge victorious, 10/12, 11/4, 7/11, 13/11, 11/5.
But there was still much squash to be played as the odd numbered
players had their opportunity to compete with one another. Neil
Madhavani played #1 for Hopkins and played well, but was overcome by
the better depth and wise placements of Jack O'Donnell, 11/7, 11/4,
11/8. Next, in a very pivotal match, Hopkins ninth grader Savir Madan
at #3 found himself facing off against a bigger and huskier eleventh
grade opponent by the name of Chiazam Nzeako, who hit the ball hard
and sought to plant himself in the middle of the court. But Savir had
some hard shots of his own and won game one in convincing fashion.
But then Chiazam dug in and came back to win the second game and to
jump out to an 8--1 lead in game three. Just then Savir found his
rhythm and rattled off 10 points in a row to come back and win that
crucial third game, and then closed out the match handily in game 4,
with the final score being 11/5, 8/11, 11/8, 11/4. This put Hopkins
up, three matches to two, with two matches remaining to be played.
And both of these matches proved to be extremely close.
Ninth grader Alex Zhang at #7 singles won games one and two
convincingly against Chaote's Pavin Sethbakidi, but then was overcome
by his opponent's powerful drives in games three and four. In game 5,
Alex worked furiously to improve his depth and then to mix in short
drop shots which his opponent was unable to retrieve. The final score
of this match, which proved to be the clinching match for Hopkins, was
11/7, 11/5, 7/11, 7/11, 11/7. At #5 singles, Conal Mueller for
Hopkins fought his opponent tooth and nail, but in the end Choate's
Charles Bellemare came through with a razor thin 14/12, 13/11, 9/11,
11/9 victory. Charles' serve placements were somewhat better that
Conal's and Charles also possessed strong cross court kill shots which
he used whenever Conal would hit his shots with insufficient depth.
The exhibition matches were every bit as exciting as those of the top
7 players. At #8 singles, Hopkins' Ethan Pritchard dropped games one
and two but fought back with renewed determination to get himself back
in the match, emerging with a well earned 8/11, 9/11, 11/8, 14/12,
11/8 come from behind victory. But Choate's Arjun Katechia did the
same thing at #9 singles to Hopkins' Jamie Donovan, 11/13, 10/12,
11/3, 11/9, 11/3. At #10 singles, Hopkins' Ben Levine played well but
found himself unable to counter Choate's Parth Mody's strong variety
of shots, dropping a 3--0 decision. The number 11 and 12 matches were
also extremely closely contested, with our Clay Wackerman dropping a
razor thin 3--2 contest at # 11, while Hopkins' Connor Hartigan at #
12 overcoming a detrmined Michael Gao, also by a 3--2 game score.
Eliot Carlson at # 13 came through with a well deserved 3--1 conquest,
while Michael Satanovsky at # 14 and Ryan Viores at # 15 both dropped
3--0 decisions despite strong efforts on each of their parts. Sam
Jenkins at # 16 rounded out the matches played this afternoon with a
solid 3--0 performance.
This was a historic first ever junior varsity team victory over
Choate. There will not be much rest for our team, as we are to play
Rye High School (a team that beat Hopkins 4--3 a year ago) at home on
Friday at 4 PM. Congratulations once again to our entire team, as we
all fought hard from the first point right to the last point, win or
lose.
Back
squash players made the 1/2 hour trip from New Haven to Wallingford to
take on the always formidable Choate boys junior varsity squash team.
Last year's score at the Hopkins Kneisel Squash Center had been 5--2
in favor of Choate, and scores before that had been 7--0 in Choate's
favor. So our team went to this match simply determined to do the
best we could do and let the chips fall where they may. Our Hopkins
players came exclusively from grades 9 and 10, whereas the top five
players on Choate's lineup were from grade 11. So clearly we had our
work cut out for us!
The top 7 matches on the two teams' ladder were the ones that would
count on the official record, and yet the other matches would also
prove to be invaluable in providing a number of 9th and 10th graders a
great taste of what a competitive match would be like.
We started out on Choate's 10 court complex with matches for the
number 2,4,6,8,10, & 12 players on our teams' ladders. Abir Singh at
Hopkins' #2 singles position got Hopkins off to a strong start with
hard hit and well placed forehand drives deep to the back corners,
besting Choate's Leander Vergera 11/5, 12/10, 11/3. But Choate
countered with a hard fought victory at #4, with Hopkins' Nikhil
Etikela working hard but coming up short 12/10, 11/8, 11/6, to even
the match at one apiece. The key match in the first round pitted
Hopkins #6 Ajay Mitra against Choate's Krishan Hinzer. Balls were
very hard struck and both players hustled hard to retrieve balls from
all 4 corners of the court. The battle see-sawed back and forth, and
Ajay put forth his most determined efforts in the final two games to
emerge victorious, 10/12, 11/4, 7/11, 13/11, 11/5.
But there was still much squash to be played as the odd numbered
players had their opportunity to compete with one another. Neil
Madhavani played #1 for Hopkins and played well, but was overcome by
the better depth and wise placements of Jack O'Donnell, 11/7, 11/4,
11/8. Next, in a very pivotal match, Hopkins ninth grader Savir Madan
at #3 found himself facing off against a bigger and huskier eleventh
grade opponent by the name of Chiazam Nzeako, who hit the ball hard
and sought to plant himself in the middle of the court. But Savir had
some hard shots of his own and won game one in convincing fashion.
But then Chiazam dug in and came back to win the second game and to
jump out to an 8--1 lead in game three. Just then Savir found his
rhythm and rattled off 10 points in a row to come back and win that
crucial third game, and then closed out the match handily in game 4,
with the final score being 11/5, 8/11, 11/8, 11/4. This put Hopkins
up, three matches to two, with two matches remaining to be played.
And both of these matches proved to be extremely close.
Ninth grader Alex Zhang at #7 singles won games one and two
convincingly against Chaote's Pavin Sethbakidi, but then was overcome
by his opponent's powerful drives in games three and four. In game 5,
Alex worked furiously to improve his depth and then to mix in short
drop shots which his opponent was unable to retrieve. The final score
of this match, which proved to be the clinching match for Hopkins, was
11/7, 11/5, 7/11, 7/11, 11/7. At #5 singles, Conal Mueller for
Hopkins fought his opponent tooth and nail, but in the end Choate's
Charles Bellemare came through with a razor thin 14/12, 13/11, 9/11,
11/9 victory. Charles' serve placements were somewhat better that
Conal's and Charles also possessed strong cross court kill shots which
he used whenever Conal would hit his shots with insufficient depth.
The exhibition matches were every bit as exciting as those of the top
7 players. At #8 singles, Hopkins' Ethan Pritchard dropped games one
and two but fought back with renewed determination to get himself back
in the match, emerging with a well earned 8/11, 9/11, 11/8, 14/12,
11/8 come from behind victory. But Choate's Arjun Katechia did the
same thing at #9 singles to Hopkins' Jamie Donovan, 11/13, 10/12,
11/3, 11/9, 11/3. At #10 singles, Hopkins' Ben Levine played well but
found himself unable to counter Choate's Parth Mody's strong variety
of shots, dropping a 3--0 decision. The number 11 and 12 matches were
also extremely closely contested, with our Clay Wackerman dropping a
razor thin 3--2 contest at # 11, while Hopkins' Connor Hartigan at #
12 overcoming a detrmined Michael Gao, also by a 3--2 game score.
Eliot Carlson at # 13 came through with a well deserved 3--1 conquest,
while Michael Satanovsky at # 14 and Ryan Viores at # 15 both dropped
3--0 decisions despite strong efforts on each of their parts. Sam
Jenkins at # 16 rounded out the matches played this afternoon with a
solid 3--0 performance.
This was a historic first ever junior varsity team victory over
Choate. There will not be much rest for our team, as we are to play
Rye High School (a team that beat Hopkins 4--3 a year ago) at home on
Friday at 4 PM. Congratulations once again to our entire team, as we
all fought hard from the first point right to the last point, win or
lose.
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Voted #1
Best Day School
in CT, 2024
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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.
