SCH senior number three Luke Stauffer went 2-1 at the high school Nationals, with his lone loss coming in a five-game match. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

Two weekends ago, male and female racquet swingers from Germantown Friends, Penn Charter, and Springside Chestnut Hill Academy headed up to Simsbury, Conn. for the 2017 U.S. High School Squash Championships, sponsored by Head Penn Racquet Sports.

According to their talent and experience, the entering teams were bracketed in different divisions, and while all three area girls' teams performed in Division I, the boys' teams appeared in three different 16-school draws.

In the main draw in Division I for the boys, SCH went 1-1 and then moved into the "classic plate" bracket for teams that won in the first round and lost in the main quarterfinals. The Blue Devils were edged 4-3 in their first "plate" match, and so ended up in the seven/eight spot (there was no playoffs for these places).

The Penn Charter lads found tough going in Division II, losing a pair of 7-0 bouts to Taft School in the main draw and to New Haven in the consolation bracket. In Division III, the GFS boys won their first match and lost their second, then were victorious in both of their classic plate contests to wind up fifth overall.

In girls Division I competition, both GFS and PC succumbed in the first round of the main draw. SCH opened with a win, topping Charter 5-2, but then lost to eventual champion Greenwich (Conn.) Academy. The Blue Devils also fell in the plate draw to Inter-Ac rival Agnes Irwin, so the Springside Chestnut Hill ladies, like their male counterparts, finished in the seven/eight position.

In the consolation bracket, Penn Charter began with a 4-3 win over the GFS Tigers, but then lost by the same score in a second-round bout with Hotchkiss School.

The SCH boys started out on Friday, February 10 with a 5-2 victory over Packer Collegiate Institute, from Brooklyn. Yielding at the top two positions, the Blue Devils won the rest of the way from three through seven thanks to seniors Luke Stauffer (3-0) and David Brenman (3-2) and sophomores James Mazzarelli (3-2), Michael Berry (3-0) and Matthew Bown (3-0).

In the team's second-round match on Saturday all seven individual bouts were won by Connecticut's Avon Old Farms. This put Springside Chestnut Hill in the classic plate draw, where the locals were shaded, 3-4, by Noble & Greenough School from Massachusetts. Stauffer (3-1) and Berry (3-0) both won, as did senior Griffin Glendinning (3-2), who was playing in the seven spot for this contest.

The Blue Devils' Inter-Ac League rivals from Haverford School won the Division I national championship, defeating Greenwich, Connecticut's Brunswick School, 5-2.

For their initial outing in Division III, the GFS boys played the "C" team from Brunswick, winning 5-2. The Tigers took all of the top four matches, starting with 3-0 wins by senior Jack Lentz and freshman Tommy Fournaris at one and two. Junior number three Eli Eisenstein won 3-1, and in the fourth spot sophomore James Nalle prevailed, 3-2. Another 10th-grader, Michael Harrity, took the number six match at 3-1 to complete the Tigers' triumph.

GFS then lost a close one to Philips Andover of Massachusetts, 3-4, with the Germantown victories coming from Lentz (3-1), Fournaris (3-0) and Nalle (3-2). Those three won again (3-0, 3-0, 3-2, respectively) as GFS downed Episcopal High School from suburban Washington. Harrity, at number six, and freshman Henry Ruger, at number five, each won in three straight to contribute to a 5-2 outcome.

Germantown Friends then eased into fifth place overall in the division as its intended opponent in the classic plate final defaulted on Sunday afternoon.

In girls' competition in Division I, SCH and Penn Charter were pitted against one another in the first round. PC prevailed at number one with sophomore Elisabeth Ross (3-0) and at number five with fellow 10th grader Hatti Specter, but the Blue Devils captured all the other matches for a 5-2 victory.

Senior Taylor Ferry came through at number two, 3-2, and at three and four there were successful efforts by juniors Lilly Soroko (3-1) and Hannah Larkin (3-0). SCH picked up its other wins in 3-0 performances by two ninth-graders, number six Maggie Pearson and number seven Abbie Rorke.

Germantown Friends had the misfortune to start out against the eventual national champion, Greenwich (Conn.) Academy, and fell 0-7.

As the action got underway in the consolation draw, familiar rivals Germantown Friends and Penn Charter were pitted against one another. PC prevailed, 4-3, with 3-0 victories coming from Ross, Specter, and junior number two Gwen Davis.

The Quakers' fourth win came courtesy of eighth-grader Amanda Cowhey in a 3-1 session at number three. GFS sophomore number four Natalie Harrity and freshman number six Katie Benoliel pulled out 3-2 matches, and the third win for the Tigers was furnished by sophomore number seven Jane MacRae (3-0).

Up in the classic plate bracket, SCH encountered Inter-Ac colleague Agnes Irwin, and the Owls downed the Devils, 5-2. The winners for Springside Chestnut Hill, by 3-1 scores, were the Rorke sisters, Abbie at number seven and her 11th-grade sibling Grace at number five.