On Saturday, January 16 our Kent boys played Westminster, and after a game-to-game match, Youssef Fikry ’16 carried the team to a 4-3 victory in the final game.

Fikry, Kent’s number one seed, had the most energetic match. After winning the first, losing the second and then winning the third set, the fourth set of the match would determine if Fikry had to keep fighting in another match or if he’d take home the win.

Sadly, in the next game, Fikry was unable to finalize just yet; however, as he approached the fifth game something changed. “Going into the fifth game was all mental,” Fikry said. ”The fourth game I focused too much on the referee’s calls, but at the start on the next game I was able to gain focus again to then make a comeback.”

With an even 2-2 match, the crowd was on edge as Fikry and the Westminster player served the first point of the last set. With a victory in sight for both boys, the tension on the court was heavy. Any point that was questionable both would challenge.

JV squash Coach Jonas Akins was one of the many in the crowd who noticed this stiffness and commented, “It’s the same game, they’re the same rackets, balls and court, but it’s a completely different game than the one I play.”

After the game, Coach Pape Seye commented on the team’s performance saying, “They played excellently. They were very focused, they knew what the task was and they were very disciplined in executing it.” After a strong showing, Coach Seye was happiest with “seeing the kids compete. They knew there was no reason for them to be anything but focused and they just wanted to compete.”

When asked what he thinks the team needs to work on most, Coach Seye said, “The most important thing is fitness. We still have to work on getting ourselves to a point where we can hold our own the whole match.”

Interestingly, when asked the same question, Fikry said the same thing, “I feel as though if I was more fit I would’ve been able to handle the game more easily.”

Overall coming out with a win over Westminster was very exciting. Kent had been losing to them for over twenty years now, but this year Kent was able to beat them not only Saturday but also previously this season at Westminster.

With the end of the season approaching our Kent boys are feeling very good about their chances this year at New Englands. Fikry mentioned, “We have a very strong team this year and I think at the rate we’re going now our season will be very successful.”