Boys Squash Rebuilds with Youth

The team was led at the top of the lineup by freshman Ryan Chen ’21, who often played against top nationally ranked juniors and seniors. Our team also consisted of two other freshman who are new to the team, JB Rosenthal ’21 at position #5 and Arav Misra’21, who played in the #7 spot in the lineup.

These young players showed considerable improvement throughout the season and add to the excitement of our program going forward. Finally, the squash team was led by senior captains Pat Walker’18 and Paul Lapey’18. Pat and Paul guided their teammates with their determination and commitment to the team. They were everything a coach could hope for out of senior captains.

The team got off to a strong start to the season winning the first two matches vs Darien and The Masters School. As the season progressed, the team ran into a tough stretch when we played against more experienced teams in the Ivy League. Despite losing several matches, the team showed tremendous grit. Several of the losses were nail biter losses 4-3. Despite these losses, the coaching staff agreed that the team always put their best performances on court.

In February, the team competed in the US Squash Nationals, in Philadelphia. This was the final weekend of the season and it is always a huge part of our season. Throughout the season, the team fought for wins and even won some matches that we easily could have lost. Going into Nationals, they knew they would be playing against even stronger competition. The first match of the weekend was against the number one seed. The coaches were incredibly proud of how hard each and every member fought in these matches. Losing 5-2 did not reflect how close the match was. The final two matches were close losses in five sets and these matches could have gone either way.

The best performers during the Nationals were Robbie Villani ’19 and JB Rosenthal. Robbie was able to overcome some first round jitters to finish off the final two matches strongly. JB Rosenthal, who previously had been ranked as high as top ten in the Nation 4 years ago (before taking a small break from squash) showed us all how much real potential he has in the sport.

The Hackley boys squash team finished on a very high note and set the mood for the bus ride home that night. In the last match, every player on the team seemed to rise to their highest level of play that has been seen all season, particularly Varun Krishna ’19. Varun was assigned the notorious number #4 position in the lineup, which psychologically is the toughest position to fill. Varun dug deep, fought hard, and produce his best on court performance of the season!

The final match of the season was yet another nail biter. The match was tied 3-3 and it all came down to the 1 v 1 match. Ryan Chen managed to pull out a miraculous fifth game destruction of his opponent for Hackley to win 4-3. It was the perfect end to our season. Eveyone could not have been more proud of the players on this team. They showed tremendous Hackley Grit and determination!!