Spencer Lovejoy '16 Claims New England #1 Singles championship

Boys Varsity Squash Overachieves, finishing 4th out of 15 teams

    The three-day New England Prep School Squash Team Championships (B
Division) took place from Friday, February 27 through Sunday, March 1,
at the 8 court complex of Loomis--Chaffee School in Windsor, Ct.
Hopkins entered this tournament having been defeated during the
regular dual meet season by two teams entering the tournament (Loomis
and Kingswood) and having defeated three other teams (Greens Farms,
St. Luke's, and Suffield).  At the Hopkins Invitational Squash
Tournament, Millbrook had placed ahead of Hopkins while Hopkins had
placed ahead of Trinity-Pawling.  So on paper, it appeared that
Hopkins might finish in the "middle of the pack".  But the Hopkins
coaches had set a goal of finishing in the top third of the
tournament--and as things turned out, Hopkins achieved the goal set
out for itself.

    Starting at the #7 singles position, Will Simon represented
Hopkins.  Will began having to play the #3 seed from Salisbury--a
strong left handed player with deep drives.  Though Will managed to
win game one, eventually his opponent's harder strokes began to gain
the upper hand despite Will's best efforts, and the result was an
8/11, 11/5, 11/5, 11/7 victory for Salisbury.  In the consolation
draw, Will rebounded with a convincing win over an opponent from St.
Luke's School before dropping a match to hard-hitting Tyler Schmalz
from Millbrook.  In the 9th place playoff match, Will found himself
evenly matched with Chris Taylor of Trinity Pawling School, and dug in
with extra effort to prevail in 5 games, 11/8, 7/11, 11/3, 10/12,
11/5.  Congratulations on that season ending win, Will!

    To this writer, the most remarkable finish of all the players was
that of #6 Hopkins player, Simon Doss-Gollin.  A converted soccer
player who just seriously took up the game in grade 10, Simon entered the New
Englands unseeded and with a modest 5--7 dual meet record.  In the
opening round, he played harder hitting but less consistent Ty Gundrum
of Trinity-Pawling School, and came through with an 11/8, 11/8, 11/5
victory.  In the quarter-finals Simon found himself facing the #2
seed, a more experienced left-handed opponent, Alex Cohen, of host
school Loomis-Chaffee.  But Simon can run with the best of them!
After dropping an extra-point game one, Simon came on strong to win
games two and three,  But then Alex forced some errors from Simon
towards the end of game four to even the match at two games apiece.
The fifth game was fast and furious, with both players determined to
win.  Simon, by cutting some of Alex's shots off by crisp volleying,
this time was able to turn the tables in the final points, earning
himself a well deserved spot in the semi-finals with a courageous
10/12, 11/6, 11/9, 9/11, 11/8 triumph! In the semi-finals, Simon's
opponent turned out to be Ben Putterman of Kingswood-Oxford, who
possessed a wide assortment of well disguised short shots which caught
Simon by surprise.  Even though Simon fought hard from the first point
right to the last point, Ben wound up defeating Simon 11/8, 11/6,
9/11.11/8. Finally, in the 3rd place playoff match, Simon emerged victorious with a very hard fought
victory over Josh Grossman of Salisbury School in a match that could
have gone either way, 11/8, 11/8, 11/9.  Simon gets my vote for
the greatest improvement in the course of the season!

    Another remarkable performance was turned in by #5 singles player
Matt Fiedler.  Matt first handled Westminster's #5 player, Sam
Worcester, who was tall with good reach but who was prone to tinning
shots when forced to the back left corner of the court.  Matt took
full advantage of Sam's inconsistency to win comfortably 11/5, 11/6,
11/5.  In Matt's quarter-final contest, his opponent was Tommy Kaye
from Middlesex School, and Matt proved triumphant in this match as
well.  Facing the #1 seed, Warm Ayanaputra from host school
Loomis-Chaffee, Matt won the first game, but eventually the even
harder and deeper hitting of Warm slowly but surely began to take
control, and Matt was defeated 7/11, 11/6, 11/9, 11/5.  So Matt also
went to the 3rd place playoff match in his division, against highly
regarded and third seeded Christian Arnsten of Millbrook.  Each and
every game was furiously fought, with both players making remarkable
gets and making deep drives.  Eventually Christian managed to prevail
over Matt, 11/8, 5/11, 9/11, 11/9, 11/8.  To show how close this match
turned out to be, please note that both players earned a total of 47
points!  Matt came away from the tournament with a hard earned 4th
place trophy!

    Sophomore Will McLean held down the #4 singles spot for Hopkins.
Facing Kyle Ferguson from Tabor Academy, Will fought point for point
with Kyle.  Kyle earned a two game to one lead, but Will expended
extra effort to come back to win game 4 in extra points.  But those
efforts may have taken their toll on Will as he dropped game five and
the match, 11/8, 5/11, 11/5, 11/13, 11/5.  Playing in the consolation
round, Will found himself pitted against lightning fast and determined
Josh Pugliese of Kingswood-Oxford and dropped this match in three
close games.  But in the 9th place playoff position match, Will was
able to turn the tables and this time finish ahead in another close
three game contest, this time coming out on top, 14/12, 12/10, 12/10.
Congratulations on your strong finish, Will!

    Co-captain and senior Alex Liu found himself playing in the tough
#3 singles position against Will Russell of Middlesex School in the
first round.  After getting off to an early lead in game one, a couple
of unforced errors allowed Will to get back in the game, which
eventually went to Will in extra points.  Once that happened, the
momentum went over to Will despite Alex's continuing efforts, and Will
wound up with a well deserved 12/10, 11/9, 11/8 victory.  In the
consolation round, Alex wound up playing crisply hitting Eli Rattner
from Rye Country Day School--the team that tied Loomis for 1st place
team title in the tournament, and Alex was subdued by a 3--0 score.
Finally, in the second consolation playoffs, Alex faced Brooks Doll
from Trinity Pawling and though the games were all closely contested,
Brooks' somewhat greater depth wound up winning the way, 13/11, 13/11,
11/8.

    Freshman Gyan Maria, by virtue of several challenge match wins,
wound up in the #2 singles position for Hopkins--quite a difficult
spot for one of the youngest players in the tournament. In round one,
Gyan found himself facing four year senior Clay Kontulis of St. Luke's
School, and despite very good efforts on Gyan's part, Clay wound up
winning, 11/5, 11/6, 8/11, 11/6.  So Gyan went on to the first
consolation round to face talented but temperamental Tyler Morse from
Berkshire School.  The momentum pendulum swung back and forth in this
contest, with all four of the first games close--but then in game 5
Gyan was able to come through with some clutch short shots and won
going away, 11/7, 9/11, 11/8, 9/11, 11/1.  What a fantastic finish!
Then Gyan's second Saturday opponent was the fast and determined Alex
Rego of Middlesex School.  Though Gyan dropped games one and two, he
somehow dug deep within and gutted out an incredible comeback to
triumph, 9/11, 8/11, 12/10, 13/11, 11/9.  In this match, the point
spread was 53 to 52 in favor of Gyan.  Needless to say, playing 10
games in contests one and two on Saturday wound up draining Gyan of
reserves, and his well trained Kingswood-Oxford opponent Matt Lazor
was able to exploit Gyan's tiredness with numerous well placed drop
shots which Gyan was unable to retrieve, and Matt won in straight
games.  Gyan the next day dropped his last match of the season to
talented Sean Choi of Tabor Academy, 11/8, 12/10, 11/4 to finish in a
very respectable 8th place in the tough #2 singles flight.

    All eyes were fixed on the #1 singles draw in which Hopkins'
co-captain, junior Spencer Lovejoy, had been selected to receive the
#1 seed.  After receiving a bye in round one, Spencer then proceeded
in the quarter finals to polish off an earnest but outmatched Mason
Johnson of Tabor Academy, 11/4, 11/4, 11/4.  Next, in the semi-finals,
Spencer faced Will Pepi of host Loomis-Chaffee School.  The home and
partisan Loomis crowd had hoped for a close contest, but Spencer
quickly quieted the home audience's hopes with a dominating 11/2,
11/3, 11/6 conquest.  In the finals, Spencer's opponent was highly
regarded Egyptian recruit Ziad Elmandouh from Trinity-Pawling School.
Ziad, like Spencer, had made it to the final round of play without the
loss of a single game.  The play in this final match was spellbinding
with both players demonstrating both incredible agility and incredible
endurance.  In each game, Spencer would get several points ahead, but
then Ziad would come roaring back.  Game one was incredibly close,
with Spencer holding a 10-6 lead, only to have Ziad string out the
next four points to tie the game at 10-10.  Spencer eventually won the
coveted New England #1 singles championship match with a spectacular
13/11, 11/8, 12/10 triumph!  What a way to conclude an already
sizzling squash season for Spencer!

    When the team scores were tabulated, it was determined that
Hopkins had indeed met its goal of finishing in the top third of the
competing teams in the hotly contested New England Prep School Team
Championships (B Division).  Host school Loomis-Chaffee and Rye
Country Day School wound up tying for 1st place with 94 points, and
Millbrook School finished in 3rd place with 82 points.  Hopkins, by
virtue of Spencer Lovejoy's #1 singles championship win, finished in
4th place, just ahead of Westminster School which had 64 points.  To
illustrate how much this Hopkins team has improved over the course of
the season, consider that Kingswood-Oxford had defeated Hopkins by a
6--1 score in our dual meet with that team.  But in this tournament,
Kingswood-Oxford wound up finishing in 10th place with 48 points.  The
Hopkins players and co-captains Alex Liu and Spencer Lovejoy deserve
tremendous credit for instilling team unity and team spirit among our
team players as the season progressed.  Thanks also go to parents who
came to matches, supplied team dinners, and encouraged their sons both
to persevere and to enjoy the great game of squash.  The team was
directed throughout the season by head coach Sean Gibbon and his
assistant Bill Ewen.