Westover Squash Team Places Third at Nationals

Westover School’s Varsity Squash Team placed third at the High School Nationals in Philadelphia on February 9th. The team exceeded expectations, having gone into the tournament seeded 15th out of the 16 teams competing.

“After waking up early on Friday, February 7th,” said coach Kate Wymard, “we headed south with our eyes set on beating whichever team we were matched up against for the first round.” The high energy from the car ride, she added, was carried directly onto the courts as the Wildcats started off strong against their first opponents, Episcopal High School from Virginia, to win 4-3.

The team put forth the necessary first-round effort to advance into the quarterfinals against Blair Academy from New Jersey on Saturday, February 8th. Even though Westover won 5-2, Wymard said, each match was incredibly close, including two nail-biting wins by Joana Pacheco ’17 and Lindsay Rogers ’15.

“The team was lucky to be able to play on Saturday afternoon instead of having a second match on Friday night,” Wymard said. However, the second match on Saturday, their third of the weekend, did not go in Westover's favor. Phillips Exeter from New Hampshire came out very strong Saturday night and earned the victory, but the Wildcats still won 2 out of the 7 matches.

“They used that match to refocus as they still advanced to the semi-finals,” Wymard said. On Sunday morning, the Wildcats battled to win the third place position against The Westminster School from Georgia. Westover came back for a tie after being down 0-3 and the Wildcats’ lone freshman, Joana Pacheco, played the deciding match. With this title and the three wins over the weekend, the team improved to 7-4.

“All in all,” Wymard said, “the Westover team showed tremendous maturity on and off of the court. They had a huge desire to win and left everything on the court each match. Senior co-captains #1 Jocelyn McKenzie and #2 Stuart Lemay both went 2-2 for the weekend. #3 Ashley Sanchez ’15 had four wins and made this tournament the weekend of her squash career thus far and earned Westover's Wildcat of the Week honors for her undefeated performance.” Pacheco went 3-1, Afua Nsiah ’15 was 1-3, and Davis Lemay ’16 went 2-2. Rogers pulled out a win when it really counted and senior #8 Vicky Rousseau came close to winning her exhibition match, Wymard said.

“The team has worked hard since Nationals,” Wymard said, “and is looking forward to continued success at New Englands Feb. 21st and 22nd.”

Westover is a selective boarding and day school in Middlebury, Connecticut, with 205 students in grades 9-12 from 17 states and 20 countries. The School offers its students more than 20 Advanced Placement courses as well as signature programs in science, engineering, art history, and music.