Hopkins Varsity Girls Squash Fall 1-6 to St. Luke's

On Friday December 1st, Hopkins’ varsity girls hosted their first ever home match. St. Luke's arrived through torrential rain.

The first-round matches saw Ariela Martin play three strong games in which she moved with increasing dexterity but got trapped on the back wall. In the next court, and Hannah Elbaum stood strong against Alexandra Young by working the ball deep, though Young's superior variety overwhelmed Elbaum. And at the farthest court, Anna Smilow marched confidently through Anne Troy's game, pinning her competitor against the back wall and hitting solid cross courts; Anna won 3-0, marking not only our first win in the new facility, but also our first win over St. Luke's.

Round two matches, though all lost in three games, featured the impressive athleticism of Kristin Manley, who scurried and pressured Charlotte Seiler impressively. Tiffany Chen used her tennis power to drive the ball hard, but Lindsey Bralower’s smooth strokes and steady placement won the day. During these games, Clara Wilson-Hawken put a serious scare into St. Luke's Danielle Coxe, taking her deep into a tiebreaker in their first game; Clara’s deep drives and good frontcourt work stood out.

While these rounds were occurring, exhibition matches lit up several courts. Kate Bradley lost her initial matchup but then found the strokes and athleticism to win her second match. Hannah Elbaum took her St. Luke's opponent through many long points, ultimately winning through superior placement. Tiffany Chen put her tennis power to impressive use in her exhibition matches and racked up a win. Kristin Manley, concurrently, controlled her competitor with careful placement.

The final match of the evening featured captain Shelby Galvin playing Hayley Parsons, whose crisp strokes and steady placement worked Shelby; however, Shelby's athleticism and determination kept her in all the exchanges and forced Parsons to earn her points.

After the match, the team agreed that yes, they did not have some techniques to refine, especially hitting out of the backcourt, but also that throughout the match they had succeeded by playing hard.