SCH tops host Penn Charter in girls' squash

Posted 1/16/18

SCH senior number two Lilly Soroko waits for the ball to come off the back wall of the court. (Photo by Tom Utescher) by Tom Utescher The Penn Charter girls prevailed at three of the top four …

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SCH tops host Penn Charter in girls' squash

Posted

SCH senior number two Lilly Soroko waits for the ball to come off the back wall of the court. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

The Penn Charter girls prevailed at three of the top four positions, but the racquetwomen of Springside Chestnut Hill Academy proved to have superior depth down the team ladder, overcoming the host Quakers, 6-3, in a match last Thursday afternoon.

The SCH Blue Devils, who'd had a tough schedule early in the season, improved to 1-3 overall, while Charter came away 4-3. Both teams had been going for their first win against an Inter-Ac League opponent, entering the match at PC with 0-2 records.

Penn Charter's number one, 11th-grader Elisabeth Ross, had recently returned from England, where she'd competed with the best juniors players in the world. Seeded in the 9/16 grouping, Ross finished eighth overall. In the round of 16 she defeated Germantown Friends junior (and frequent doubles partner) Daisy Lentz, then Ross succumbed in a four-game quarterfinal to the eventual third-place finisher, England's Lucy Turmel.

In last week's scholastic match, Ross was taking on a talented but less experienced rival from Springside Chestnut Hill, eighth-grader Whitney Taylor. Not surprisingly, the Quakers standout went through in three games, 11-3, 11-2, 11-4.

The number two match, however, was a tooth-and-nail tussle between two seniors, Lilly Soroko of the Blue Devils and Gwen Davis of Penn Charter. Soroko took the opener, 11-5, then after falling behind by four points in the second game she rallied to win, 12-10.

In the third, Davis went ahead early again and this time held the lead to secure an 11-9 victory. She then evened up the match with an 11-6 win in the fourth frame. Soroko scrapped back to seize the fifth game, 11-5, and the match, 3-2, breaking up the Penn Charter hegemony in the higher positions on the ladder.

Penn Charter junior Alexa Lenfest extended her match to five games and came away with a victory at number four. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

By this time, the Blue Devils had already built a solid foundation for their team victory by piling up wins in the five-though-nine spots. In a number nine contest played by a pair of freshmen, visitor Charlotte Stahlecker won, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4, 11-4 against Charter's Nezzie Alexanian.

In their other four wins, the Blue Devils had their players wrap things up in three games. Junior Audrey Hong defeated PC senior number eight Chloe Master, 11-3, 12-10, 11-8, and in the seventh spot visiting freshman Celia Mazzarelli was an 11-9, 11-7, 11-9 winner over senior host Meredith Bernstein.

SCH sophomore Maggie Pearson, playing number six, knocked off Quakers senior Charlotte Murray, 11-7, 11-4, 11-6, and an SCH senior, Grace Rorke, topped PC junior Mia Bezar, 11-3, 11-8, 11-3.

Rorke's younger sister Abbie, a sophomore, succumbed at number four in a hard fought battle with Penn Charter junior Alexa Lenfest. The Quakers 11th-grader got the upper hand by pulling out the first two games, 12-10, 11-9, then Rorke avoided a sweep by securing the third game at 11-7. An intense battle in the fourth round ended with Lenfest earning a 12-10 verdict and the match victory.

Penn Charter's third win was in the number three spot, where junior Hatti Specter was a model of consistency as she defeated SCH senior Hannah Larkin in three 11-8 games.