Boys Squash Finishes Winning Season

    Sunday, February 24, marked the final day of the New England Prep
School B Team Championships for the Hopkins Boys Varsity Squash Team,
which was played on the campus of Avon Old Farms School.  Each of the
Hopkins players was competing for a place in the top 8 in their flight
category, speaking very well of the team depth that has been built up
by new head squash coach Sean Gibbon.

    Junior Theo Wuest began the day by overcoming a strong challenge
from Mitchell Cole from Tabor Academy in the 7th/8th place playoff by
sticking to basics and hustling hard for his opponent's drives and
drop shots.  Theo earned 7th place in the #7 singles flight by a 11/5,
9/11, 11/2, 11/4 margin.

    Another Hopkins junior, Nader Rastegar, also responded well in the
consolation finals at #6 singles, topping hard hitting and aggressive
Ryan Holzberger from St. Luke's School with consistent depth and
hustle of his own, outlasting his St. Luke's opponent by coming back
from a first game loss to emerge triumphant, 8/11, 11/9, 12/10, 11/2,
thus earning for himself a 5th place trophy.

    Still a third Hopkins junior, Justin Lee, had advanced to the
semi-finals of the main draw before dropping a match to an opponent
from Suffield on Saturday.  So Justin found himself in a 3rd/4th place
playoff against a worthy opponent, Ian Petty, from St. Paul's School.
This player from St. Paul's possessed excellent drop shots whenever he
could hold the front court position.  Though Justin won the first game
and fought valiantly, he eventually succumbed by an 8/11, 11/7, 11/9,
11/5 margin, but came away with a 4th place trophy for his weekend
efforts.

    Senior tri-captain Jack McLean at #4 also found himself pitted
against a St. Paul's School opponent, George Congdon.  Both Jack and
George play varsity tennis for their respective schools, so the match
pitted volleying skills as well as shot making using the side walls.
Play was fast and furious, with first one player gaining the
advantage, then the other.  In the end, George Congdon was able to
reduce his number of errors below that of Jack to come out ahead in a
very close encounter of the 4th kind, 11/6, 1/11, 11/7, 3/11, 11/8.
Jack came away in 6th place in the number 4 singles category.

    At #3 singles, Doug Schaffer, who had endured and survived two
amazing marathon matches on Saturday (including what must have been a
record breaking length of match, 11/13, 12/10, 19/21, 14/12, 11/8
against Millbrook's Colin Stuart--an astounding 131 points in 5
games!), wound up with a default in the consolation final, as his
opponent had sustained an injury at the very end of his match the day
before.  To say that Doug earned his 5th place trophy at #3 singles
would be to make a vast understatement--recall that Doug also fought
his way back from a 6--10 deficit in the 5th game earlier on Saturday
to defeat Krittapat Pranich from Avon, 14/12!  What a wonderful way to
complete his 4 year Hopkins squash career!

    Ninth grade rising star Spencer Lovejoy earned the highest finish
of a Hopkins squash player at the tournament, as a finalist in the #2
singles category.  In the finals, Spencer played a strong Egyptian
trained squash player who is going to school at Avon Old Farms,
Abdelrahman Mahmoud.  Spencer courageously matched this player shot
for shot throughout the match, with many points lasting two dozen hits
or more.  But eventually Abdelrahman would draw Spencer up to the
front of the court, only to blast a hard deep cross court stroke by
Spencer.  The final score was 11/5, 11/7, 11/7 in favor of
Abdelrahman.  Spencer was the proud recipient of a second place trophy
for the #2 singles flight.

    Last but not least was the play of senior tri-captain TJ Dembinski
at the #1 position.  Having lost in 4 hard fought games in the
semi-finals against Egyptian Seif Abou El Einen from Brooks School on
Saturday, TJ faced rival player James Watson from St. Luke's School in
the 3rd/4th place playoff match.  Both players were in excellent
shape, hitting the ball hard and tight to the wall time after time,
and mixing in drop shots with good depth.  Only a few shots separated
the two players, but after a long and sustained battle TJ was able to
prevail, 11/8, 10/12, 11/8, 11/9, to earn a 3rd place trophy in the #1
singles category.  This victory also proved to be the edge in enabling
Hopkins to secure a tie for 4th place overall in the 15 team
tournament--the best ever for Hopkins in the very competitive B
division of the New England Prep School Team Squash Championships.

    The official team standings for the top 8 teams at the end of the
tournament were as follows:  1.  Brooks School (87 points).  2.  St.
Luke's School (85 points).  3.  St. Paul's School (82 points).  4.
Hopkins School and Groton School (both with 80 points).  6.  Suffield
Academy (72 points).  7.  Millbrook School (66 points).  8.  Avon Old
Farms School (61 points).

    Every one on the Hopkins boys varsity squash team is to be
congratulated on their first winning dual meet season ever (8--6) and
on their highest finish ever in the B Division of the New England Prep
School Team Tournament!  All's well that ends well!