12/12 - The girls squash team went down to Mercersburg this weekend for the Flanagan tournament. Blair went 1-2, with a victory over Lancaster Country Day School in the first round of the consolation bracket. The match of the day was against Mercersburg. Though Blair lost 7-2, everyone played extremely well taking most of the matches into five sets. In the consolation final, Blair played another MAPL opponent, Hill. Again Blair lost 7-2.  That said, every single loss went into 5 sets.  Coach Smith is excited to watch the girls improve as they get another shot at both Hill and Mercersburg. 

Lisa Brix and Steph Gorman both won every match they played. Overall Blair went 1-2

 

1/13 - The Blair girls squash team ventured down 206 to do battle with a nationally ranked Lawrenceville team. Though we ended up losing 7-0 there were a few notable matches. Hayley San Giacomo managed to grab a game from her girl at the no. 3 position and Lisa Brix, in what turned out to be the most exciting match of the day, took her match to five sets! The girls are looking to bounce back this weekend at home against Hill and Mercersburg. 

 

1/16 - This weekend the girls squash team played both Hill and Mercersburg at home. In the first match, Blair lost to a tough Mercersburg squad 7-0. Francesca Nestande and Lisa Brix both played tough five set matches. Francesca, who had lost 3-0 to the number two from Mercersburg a month ago, showed great improvement in her game. 

The second match of the day was a great deal closer as Blair lost 4-3 to a tough Hill squad. Manny Perez, Francesca Nestande and Haley San Giacomo at numbers 1-3 won their respective matches. Haley won in dramatic fashion 11-9 in the fifth set. Despite success at the top three spots Hill had a very balanced lineup winning at numbers 4-7. All in all, it was a very fun home match!

 

1/19 - The Blair girls’ squash team welcomed a strong Brearly squad to campus yesterday. After a long warm-up, the girls were ready and psyched to get the matches going. Jackie Florio got things started with a victory at the number nine spot and from there the team never looked back pulling off a solid 5-4 victory over the ladies in red. Highlights included another five set drama from Lisa Brix, Francesca Nestande’s domination at the number two spot and Hannah Declercq’s overpowering backhand. Blair girls will face Pingry on Friday.

 

1/23 - On January 22nd, the girls’ squash team faced a tough Pingry squad. Things look good early as Lisa Brix won her match at no. 7 in just about 8 minutes. This early success did not translate into a team victory as Blair ended up with a 6-1 loss. Haley San Giacomo and Hannah Declercq both battled tough at the no. 3 and no. 5 spots. Manny Perez had a particularly interesting match as she battled the 5th ranked player in the country and managed to take many good points off of her. Blair looks to bounce back before long weekend when as they head to Poly Prep on Wednesday. 

 

1/27 – The girls’ varsity squash team headed to Brooklyn for a showdown against Poly Prep. Looking to sweep the season series against Prep, Blair came out firing, and they defeated Poly by a count of 8-0. Highlights included Hannah DeClercq’s come from behind victory and Emma Moore’s first varsity victory! Blair looks to continue its success after the long weekend with a stretch of road matches with Brearly and Pingry, followed by MAPLs at Lawrenceville. 

 

2/17 - The Blair girls went down to Drew University to face a tough Pingry squad. Steph Gorman and Haley San Giacomo started things off right with victories at numbers 6 and 7. Unfortunately, the next couple matches did not go Blair’s way. Hannah DeClercq, Sienna Buxton and Julia Laughlin all had tough five-set losses! Though they were disappointed it did show great improvement from 3 weeks earlier when they lost 3-0 to their respective Pingry opponents. 

Francesca Nestande and Manny Perez had their hands full with Pingry’s number one and two. Manny played some fierce points with the number five ranked girl in the country. All in all, it was a very successful day for the Blair girls. 

 

2/20 - This weekend the Girls’ Squash team went down to Lawrenceville to play in the MAPL squash tournament.  Having seen all the teams before, the girls were excited to get one last “swing” against some of the MAPL opponents we have already seen. Top individual finishers included Mannie, Haley and Steph. Mannie once again played the Hill number one to five sets this time winning in dramatic fashion 11-8. 

This weekend  was also the last time senior Francesca Nestande would play squash in the Bucs uniform. In her usual fashion, Fran played incredibly hard at the number two spot matching up against some of the best girls in our league and in the country. Fran has had an incredible senior campaign for the Bucs  and the team wishes her nothing but the best. 

 

JV Squash Recap 2009-2010 season:

Finishing with a 6-2 record, the 2009-1010 junior varsity girls’ squash season was a tremendous success. With only four returning players, I was worried as the season began back in December if all of our new talent would be able to adapt to the game. With so many girls trading their tennis rackets for squash rackets as the temperatures fell, I was not sure if they would be able to transfer those two-handed backhands into side-wall boasts, cross court kills, and soft lobs. I attribute all of our success to the character of the nine girls that made up our squad; as the days shorten and the snow piles up, it is easy to fall into a winter slumber, making every afternoon activity or sport just another necessary burden, but with our team, I honestly think that we all looked at our practice time as one of the bright spots in our day.

In describing our team, it is impossible to ignore—simply because of their volume—our freshmen. Kira Liva, Samantha Kall and Rebecca Hargis truly exhibited the freshman mentality throughout the entire season; they were energetic and loud, yet also incredibly sweet and sincere at the same time. Kira and Samantha saw consistent playing time, and found themselves battling each other for position within our lineup. Samantha, completely new to the sport at the start of the season, quickly assumed the role of “quickest girl” on the team; although it took her a month or so to figure out the movement of the court, her speed kept her in—and won her—many matches. Kira slowly developed mastery over her front court game and won many points angling her drop shots into side walls. Now we just need her to lose her fear of her backhand! Rounding out our core group of freshmen is Rebecca. Becca quite literally bounced into every practice, and more than once, we had to keep her in a court to contain all of her energy. Although she experienced some difficulty transferring her tennis skills into squash, Becca did not let this dampen her spirit. She did see limited playing time early in the season, but she focused over school breaks and really improved as a player. All of our freshmen girls set the tone for the season, and I look forward to having many of them return to continue where we left off.

As we move into our group of sophomores, we begin to see more of a mix with regards to their respective squash backgrounds. Kate Anello quickly showed an interest in squash, and was able to avoid many of the faults that follow a tennis player into the squash court. Right out of the gate, Kate had a ferocious forehand that caught many opponents off-guard. I want to congratulate her because she spent many hours quietly hitting alone to improve her basic strokes; she began to rely on more than just power to win points. With one of the strongest squash backgrounds on the team, Emma Moore was an impact player immediately. She was able to coach and advise many of the less-experienced girls in every aspect of the game: etiquette, technique, rules, match strategy, and even choosing a cute racket. As one of the few returning players, I appreciated all of her help and input! Our sophomore group ends with Phoebe O’Rourke. Phoebe was confident, competitive, and ready to learn in the court—she was also in charge of the music on road trips. She made one of the largest leaps on the team ladder, partially due to what the rest of the team referred to as the “Phoebe shot.” This shot refers to an opposite angle boast that often simply leaves her competitors confused as they run to discover that the ball returned to the area they just vacated. The sophomores were a great bridge between our youngest and oldest girls on the team; I wish them the best of luck next year, but I still selfishly hope that they return to the team.

As expected, our junior girls were the backbone of the team. All three of them were returning players, and they each assumed leadership roles in different ways. Ashley Strunk and You Jin Lee took the quieter route, but still made themselves heard with their play. Because of their sweet dispositions, it is hard to imagine either You Jin or Ashley hitting winners, but they were able to summon some aggression when they entered the court. With the softest—and most effective—lob serve on the team, Ashley became the anchor of the middle of our roster; we knew we could count on her to pull out her match. It is hard to understand how much of a competitor You Jin truly is at first glance because of her constant fits of laughter, but she steadily raised her game all season long and put pressure on the top spot. Our last player happens to be our junior team leader—“captain”—Stephanie Gorman. Steph was able to unite all nine of our players, and transition from the role of friend, leader, coach, and captain effortlessly. Her humor and honesty with the girls and with me brought out our best and made the entire season a blast.

As I think it is the key to any successful junior varsity program, our season had a beautiful blend of fun, nonsense, competition and learning. What makes squash a unique game is that the players are quite literally locked into what can be called a cell with their opponent—there is no escape. With this isolation, players really have to handle their emotions and competitive juices, whether playing another team, or simply playing a challenge match against a close friend. I was incredibly proud to see how this group of girls handled themselves in and out of the court, and I was confident—win or lose—that our girls would represent themselves and their school well in all of our matches. Thanks again for a great season!

-Coach Kornheiser