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Choate Rosemary Hall Conquers Routinely vs. Hopkins, 5--2:
On Sunday, February 5, the Hopkins boys varsity squash team attempted to regroup after their very close 3--4 defeat Saturday afternoon at the hands of Nichols School of Buffalo, NY. The team made the trip once again (the fourth one in three days) to the campus of Avon Old Farms School for their noon contest with the Choate B team. Choate had defeated Hopkins earlier in the season, 6--1.
The match began with Hopkins' Matt Hodel at #7 facing off against Choate's Alex Newhouse, who had been undefeated to date in three other matches this weekend. Alex placed the ball well and deep against Matt, and cut Matt's shots off effectively when they went to the middle of the court and triumphed 11/7, 11/5, 11/6. Then Hopkins' Spencer Lovejoy used his versatile all court game to overcome Choate's Aazam Jauhal at the #2 position by an equally dominating 11/4, 11/5, 11/6 outcome.
Two key matches followed at #3 and #5 singles which would set the tone for the remainder of the match. Doug Schaffer, playing #3 for Hopkins, started out strongly with hard serves and some hard low cross court winners in game one, but then fell into some errors from the back left hand corner of the court when forced back into that area. In the meantime, his opponent, William Remsen, began to volley more effectively and to hurry Doug into more errors. Both players fought hard and hustled, but in the end William Remsen's ball control and good court sense won the day for Choate, 6/11, 11/4, 11/6, 11/9. Then at #5, Sam Konolize playing for Choate, kept Hopkins' Nader Rastegar behind him most of the time and handily controlled games one and two of their match. In game three, Nader fought back hard, and the points went on longer than before, but Sam wound up winning, 11/5, 11/6, 11/9.
Those two victories put Hopkins in a significant hole, 3--1. One more victory and the match would be Choate's. Hopkins #1 player, TJ Dembinski, came out with a vengeance against Choate's Jeremy Reikes and totally controlled the play and the tempo, winning 11/0, 11/3, 11/1.
The final two matches at #6 and #4 then went on the court. Steve Falcigno at #6 faced a very polished and confident player who wound up beating Steve soundly in game one by an 11/1 margin. Steve then in game two began to take advantage of several unforced errors by his Choate opponent (Nick Van Eck) to fight and claw his way back into the match. Even so, his opponent's greater experience eventually won out in games 2 and 3, 11/9, 11/9. Steve is to be congratulated on his dogged determination in such situations. This clinched the team match for Choate, but there was still one match to finish, involving Hopkins' Jack McLean against Choate's William Sternlicht in the #4 position. Both players struck the ball hard, and mixed in drop shots along each side wall. There were a number of excellent rallies and shot making. After Choate won a close game one 11/8, Jack fought back to take game two convincingly, 4/11. But then the Choate player wore Jack down with long rallies and well placed shots which forced Jack to scamper from one corner of the court to another and back, and the match went to Choate 11/5 in the fourth game.
Hopkins will now have two days to re and regroup before our upcoming match with Suffield Academy, at home on Wednesday, February 8, at 3 PM. Although Suffield's overall record is 3--10, they do sport a 4--3 victory against Canterbury School in one of their most recent matches. According to the Suffield Academy website, "They should have several opportunities for additional victories" in upcoming matches. Hopkins will need to be fully prepared for this improving team from Suffield.
With best regards,
William L. Ewen
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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.
