by Tom Utescher

Host Penn Charter won the top three matches, but visiting squash power Agnes Irwin took all the rest to win last Wednesday’s Inter-Ac match by a score of 6-3. The Quakers came away with a 3-3 record overall, while the Owls remained undefeated.

Irwin’s depth was underscored by the fact that its regular number one, junior Katherine Glaser, was sitting out with an injury and all of the other Owls bumped up one spot on the team ladder.

Before the match, there was a ceremony honoring the five seniors on the Penn Charter team, Mia Bezar, Lexie Kaiser, Alexa Lenfest, Elisabeth Ross and Hatti Specter. Ross and Lenfest are going on to Yale and Columbia, respectively, and Kaiser is headed for Penn.

When the action got underway, Penn Charter’s first victory came at the number two spot, where sophomore Amanda Cowhey overcame junior Rachel Mashek, 11-9, 11-5, 11-9. Irwin was turning in some strong performances at the other end of the ladder, though. Visiting sophomore number seven Margaux Comai topped Charter 10th-grader Olivia Schwartz, 11-4, 11-1, 11-1, AI freshman number eight Devon Glaser (unrelated to Katherine) defeated PC’s Kaiser, 11-3, 11-2, 11-3, and senior number nine Emily Coyne won 11-2, 11-0, 11-0 over Quakers sophomore Mikayla Fradin.

The court where Cowhey and Mashek had played was now taken over by the two number ones, Ross for Penn Charter and junior Olivia Walsh for the visitors.

Ross, a U.S. junior national team member, had recently returned from the British Junior Open, one of the most prestigious events in international junior squash. She was given a surprisingly low seeding in the 17/34 bracket, considering that she finished eighth at the tournament in 2018.

The number six player for Penn Charter, sophomore Nezzie Alexanian, chases down a ball in the rear of the court. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

This meant that she had an early encounter with the player who would eventually finish third, Egypt’s Farida Mohamed. Ross succumbed in five games, but won all of her other five matches.

In last Wednesday’s action she prevailed against Walsh, 11-5, 11-4, 11-5.

Meanwhile, in the number six position two sophomores squared off, with Irwin’s Grace Flaherty earning an 11-7, 11-4, 11-2 decision over Nezzie Alexanian of the home team. Devon Glaser’s older sister, Caroline, was playing for the Owls at number four against a fellow senior, Charter’s Specter. This one also went the visitors’ way, 11-8, 11-6, 11-5.

In the middle of the line-up, PC’s Bezar fell to junior Cate Costin, 11-6, 11-7, 11-5.

Costin is the daughter of Gui Costin, head coach of the best boys’ high school golf team in Pennsylvania, Inter-Ac champion Haverford School.

The final match on the court at PC last Wednesday was the only one that extended into a fourth game. Owls senior Isabella Schneider took the opening game, 11-6, but the Quakers’ Lenfest gutted out wins in the next three, 11-8, 13-11, 11-8.