Whittall Squashed the Competition

On Saturday, February 1st four teams took to the courts to battle it out in 2014's Interhouse Squash Tournament. Claimed by many to be a lesser sport, squash actually claims one of the highest number of applicants in winter term: this year 43 people signed up for just 20 available spots. The tournament was laid out as follows: four teams of five players were each seeded from one through five. Every athlete played their respective competition from the other three competitive houses and at the end of the tournament, whichever house had won the most games would be declared the winner and bring home the coveted Interhouse Squash Trophy. Although there are many students in the squash program, the distribution among the houses was uneven with some houses being forced to pressgang tennis players while others had to hold tryouts because they had so many players. Whittall fielded a powerhouse team comprised of the majority of the Brentwood ISA team supported by other members of the school team. The dearth of players in some of the other houses meant that some of the matchups were not even. Privett's team was motivated by a large number of rowdy supporters; likewise, the Whittall team was cheered on by a group of exuberant Alex girls. Apart from playing for interhouse points, a goal of the tournament was to highlight squash to the student body at large. The initiative was successful with many spectators saying that they would like to try the sport in the near future. As always, the experienced members of the squash team are happy to spend time teaching the potential newcomers about this amazing sport. Whittall dominated, leading the field with 45 games won and only one loss. Privett placed a distant second with Ellis upsetting a promising Rogers team to claim third. This was Whittall’s fifth straight interhouse squash championship and we hope to continue the dynasty for the foreseeable future. Thanks to all the players, supporters and our resident squash coach, Gustavo Verna, for another exciting year of squash. Jeen S, Whittall ‘14