St. Paul's was the 1 seed in Division 4 and started off in the round of 16, facing Moses Brown from Providence, RI. The team had some big 3-0 wins early from Drew Nemphos and Ashton Seeman and a 3- 1 victory by James Vitale that put us in a good position. The match ended up being tied at 3-3, and George Croft was the last remaining player on court. George won the first two tight games 11-9, 11-8 and then sealed the deal in front of a raucous crowd by cruising to victory 11-3 in the third and final game. This earned the team a 4-3 victory and a trip to the quarter-finals Saturday morning.
In the quarters, SP faced the 8 seed Berkshire School from Sheffield, MA. Berkshire School is coached by the former World Number 1 squash player, Nick Matthew! This only motivated the coaches and the players even more for the match. The match's final outcome was 5-2 in favor of SP. The score doesn't give the match justice. The match went well over the allotted two hours and three players won by two in the fifth and final game, Drew Nemphos, Ashton Seeman and Charlie Schlossberg. George Croft lost in the fifth by a score of 10-12. James Vitale and Grady Carroll had an easier go of it in their matches and had commanding wins. Captain Jacob Hobson took his match to four games and lost 10-12 to a tough opponent.
The semi-final match was played against Louisville Collegiate High School from Kentucky. Drew Nemphos won his second consecutive 5 game match, and George Croft won his match 3-1. The match was a true battle, and SP was in a position to make a comeback, with Grady Carroll leading his match 9-7 in the fifth and final game. Grady went for a ball in the front right of the court and went down hard with an injury to his right hip area and couldn't continue in his match. This was a tough loss for Grady and the team. The team rallied to support him and tried to overcome adversity, and simply just fell short and lost the match 2-5.
The team was now set to play in the playoff match for third place overall against Poly Prep NYL from Brooklyn, NY. Ashton Seeman got us off to a great start with an easy 3-0 victory, and things looked good. Unfortunately, the team just couldn't get going, started dropping some matches, and couldn't right the ship! Momentum wasn't in our favor, and before we knew it, the match was out of reach. The team didn't let this get in the way of having one of the most exciting final matches of the entire tournament.
Trevor Seymour attended Nationals as the alternate at the eighth spot in case of an injury on the main roster, and he filled in for the injured Grady Carroll at the seventh spot. This was Trevor's first year on Varsity and his time to shine. Boy, did he shine! Trevor played like a man on a mission. He fell short in the first game 13-15 and the second 6-11. He was suddenly down 0-2 in the match and walked off the court, saying that he was just warming up. He was right! Trevor stepped onto the court and took the next two games 12-10 and 11-9. The match was now tied at 2-2, and both teams and all the parents were cheering their players on for the final game. Trevor had a slow start in the fifth and final game and found himself down by a score of 5-9. He managed to remain calm and keep his focus and run off a string of several consecutive points to win the game 11-9 and win the match 3-2! Trevor is undefeated at Nationals and helped bring the team back to life after a couple of tough matches to end the tournament.
Overall, the St. Paul's Varsity squash team finished 4th place in division 4, ranking them at 52nd in the country. What an amazing team and a great experience for the players to close out the season. This was the first trip to Nationals for all the players, with the exception of Jacob Hobson and Drew Nemphos. It was the first and only experience for three seniors, Charlie Schlossberg, James Vitale and Trevor Seymour. Ashton Seeman, George Croft and Grady Carroll got their first taste of Nationals and will be working hard to go back and compete again next year!
Go St. Paul's! Thanks for an amazing squash season! Coach (Eric) Roberts and Coach Mo (El Sherif)