SCH number two Zane Jeka (pictured) and his senior classmate Luke Stauffer (the Blue Devils' number three) will both join the team at George Washington University next year. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

At the Mid-Atlantic Squash Association (MASA) Boys' High School Championships last weekend, the varsity "A" and varsity "B" teams from Springside Chestnut Hill Academy reached the finals in Division 1 and Division 2, respectively.

SCH B won the Division 2 title by defeating Penn Charter's regular varsity squad, 7-2, but the varsity A outfit came up just short.

National power and 2017 Inter-Ac League champ Haverford School had knocked off the Blue Devils in their regular season meeting, 6-3, and the Fords were able to duplicate that score last Sunday in MASA Division 1.

The action in that division all took place at the Philadelphia Squash Club on the Springside Chestnut Hill campus, where the two finalists worked to a 3-3 split in the fourth through ninth flights before Haverford wrapped up wins at each of the top three spots.

In addition to the SCH B team and Penn Charter, MASA's Division 2 bracket also included the varsity boys of Germantown Friends. The Tigers won their first-round match, then succumbed to the PC Quakers in the semifinals, 6-3.

The Division 2 competition took place on Saturday, and that morning both GFS and Penn Charter opened up with 9-0 sweeps. First, winning every match against the Haverford School junior varsity in three straight games was a PC line-up consisting of (in order) juniors Marco Rodriguez and Marker Angelakis, sophomore Max Lubowitz, senior Reid Kleinman, freshman Nick Case, junior Ben Swanson, sophomore Rohan Bhambhani, junior Soren Heinz, and sophomore Tom Bradbeer.

Next, the GFS Tigers took on the JV from Episcopal Academy. Senior Jack Lentz was in the top spot, followed by freshman Tommy Fournaria, junior Eli Eisenstein, sophomore James Nalle, freshman Henry Ruger, sophomore Michael Harrity, sophomore Jacob Sternberg-Sher, senior Jake Schwartz, and sophomore Elliot Barr. All won 3-0 except Schwartz, who lost his second game and then won the next two to clinch the victory, 3-1.

Meanwhile, Springside Chestnut Hill's B team was moving through the other half of the bracket. Freshman Charlie Larkin held down the top spot, and down the ladder were his classmates Chase Cook (three), Jake Scholl (eight) and Austin Youngren (nine). Juniors Joe Fabiani, Charlie Randall, and Finley Blake were positioned at number two, four, and five, respectively, while sophomores Nick Dolente and Nate McDowell played six and seven.

In their opener, the Devil Bees stung St. Andrew's School, 9-0, taking every game save one in the ninth spot. Conestoga High School had its varsity B team in Division 2, but in the semifinal round SCH went through the Pioneers, 8-1, dropping only the number four contest. Larkin, Fabiani, Dolente, McDowell, and Scholl were all 3-0 winners, while Cook, Blake, and Youngren wrapped up their matches in four games.

The other semifinal encounter pitted Germantown Friends against Penn Charter, with the latter squad securing a 6-3 verdict. Lentz snagged the number one match for GFS in three games, but at number two Fournaris had to go five rounds to overcome PC's Angelakis.

It was the Quakers who captured the other five-gamer, as Swanson outlasted the Tigers' number six, Harrity. Kleinman, at four, and Heinz, at number eight, registered 3-0 wins for Charter, and 3-1 decisions went to PC's Lubowitz, Case, and Bradbeer. The third win for GFS came courtesy of Sternberg-Sher, who topped Bhambhani in the seven spot, 3-1.

PC's run ended in the final with a 7-2 setback dealt by the SCH B franchise. The Quakers' Kleinman completed his third match without losing a game as he bested Randall, 11-6, 11-6, 12-10 at number four. In the second flight, SCH's Fabiani won the first and fourth games (11-8, 11-5), while Charter's Angelakis took the second and third (both 11-9) and then toughed out a 13-11 victory in the deciding game.

The other seven matches all belonged to SCH, starting with Larkin's third straight 3-0 triumph in the top flight. He topped Rodriguez, 11-8, 11-6, 11-9, and at number three Cook collected an 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 win over Lubowitz.

After Kleinman secured the fourth spot for PC, Springside Chestnut Hill won 3-0 the rest of the way down. In descending order, it was Blake over Case (11-4, 11-6, 11-8), Dolente over Swanson (11-9, 11-8, 11-4), McDowell over Bhambhani (11-9, 11-3, 11-9), Scholl over Heinz (13-11, 11-9, 11-8), and Youngren over Bradbeer (12-10, 11-5, 11-6).

On Sunday morning Division 1 competition got underway, with SCH A filling the top four slots with seniors Chris Dalglish, Zane Jeka, Luke Stauffer, and David Brenman ahead of sophomores James Mazzarelli and Michael Berry, freshman Christian Mazzarelli, sophomore Matt Bown, and junior Peter Kapp.

The Blue Devils won all of their matches again the Harriton/Lower Merion High School combo team by 3-0 scores in their MASA debut. Haverford had entered its varsity B team in Division 1 as well as its A squad, and when the two groups of Fords faced one another at the outset, the A team predictably prevailed, 9-0.

The Blue Devils had a tougher assignment in the semifinals, but still overcame Episcopal, 7-2, with Brenman, Berry, Christian Mazzarelli, Bown, and Kapp all going through in straight games. Stauffer and James Mazzarelli won 3-1, and the Churchmen claimed the top two spots, where number two Maximo Moyer topped Jeka, 3-1, and talented EA number one Eric Kim pulled out a 3-2 win over Dalglish.

While Dalglish was getting this five-game workout, his Haverford counterpart, Princeton bound senior Duncan Joyce, was sitting out the other semifinal. The Fords bumped everyone else up one spot, forfeited at number nine, and still cruised past Shipley School, 8-1.

As the championship match got underway at midafternoon, SCH's Kapp won a battle between juniors at number nine, defeating the Fords' Patrick Rodden, 11-5, 11-13, 11-6, 11-3. Haverford took the next two bouts up the ladder, with freshman Christian Shah fighting past Bown, 5-11, 13-11, 11-8, 13-15, 11-2, and with senior William Wu besting Christian Mazzarelli, 11-6, 14-12, 5-11, 11-8.

James Mazzarelli also fell in four games when he met at number five with fellow sophomore Spencer Yager, who won 11-7, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9. However, SCH was able to notch victories above and below, claiming number four and six. Berry beat Fords junior Samuel Turner at number six, 11-6, 9-11, 11-4, 11-6, and when Brenman faced another senior, William Glaser, at number four, he won an opening-game brawl at 13-11 and then took the next two more easily, 11-3, 11-5.

Haverford is very solid on the top third of the ladder, and with the team tally at 3-3, Springside Chestnut Hill would have to capture two of these bouts in order to prevail.

Jeka came closest as he engaged Fords junior Peter Miller in the second spot. The Blue Devils senior went up 2-0 with 11-5, 11-7 outcomes, and had a match point pending at 10-9 in the third. The resilient Miller staved off defeat to win that game, 12-10, then secured the next two rounds at 11-3, 11-6 for the victory.

SCH number three Stauffer, who will join Jeka at George Washington University next year, was bested by Haverford junior Grant Sterman, 11-5, 11-4, 12-10. At number one, Dalglish put up stiff resistance against Joyce, but Haverford would claim this bout, too, 11-8, 13-11, 11-8.