By Michael Li, Managing Editor
The Conestoga boys’ squash team lost to Shipley 5-4 in a highly anticipated matchup on Tuesday. Wins came from seniors Alex Lee and Tommy Brennan, and sophomores Tucker Allen and Adam Chappelear, but the team couldn’t secure the decisive fifth match victory against a strong Shipley team.
“We battled really hard. It’s a really good team; that’s the best they’ve ever been,” senior captain Alex Lee said. “We came and fought. We had a lot of really good matches, a lot of really close games that came down to the end.”
Conestoga had a solid start, taking two of three in the first wave of matches for an early 2-1 lead. But in the second and third waves, Shipley managed a comeback and held on for the overall win.
“The way I would describe it is that we came out very strong, then we went into a little bit of a lapse in the middle of the match, and we got re-energized in the last wave, and we came back. We just fell a game short, which sometimes happens. But it was a really well-played match all-around,” head coach Cam Hopkins said.
One highlight of the match that Hopkins pointed out was the strong performance by Lee, playing as ‘Stoga’s number one.
“Playing number one is a brutal position because you’re going to play the best player from every team in the Philadelphia area,” Hopkins said. “He earned that match.”
The loss to Shipley evened the boys’ record to 5-5 on the season, at time of press. The record reflects the team’s tough schedule. In its league, the Mid Atlantic Squash Association, Conestoga plays against some of the top schools in the country. The stiff competition the boys play helps prepare them for tournaments such as nationals in February, where the team hopes to compete in Division I or at the top of Division II.
“Come nationals time, and MASA, we usually end up playing against teams more in our caliber, so we have a lot of experience playing in tough matches,” Lee said.
Despite some difficulties, such as having three players injured in December, Conestoga has had a solid season so far, with convincing wins against teams from Germantown Friends School and Radnor High School.
“We’ve definitely had some good wins this season, and hopefully we’ll get a good seeding (in the national tournament) and do some damage,” Hopkins said.
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Michael Li can be reached at [email protected].
