On Wednesday, December 5, the Kent girls JV squash team battled Miss Porters for a tight win: the team’s first against Porters in five years. Only two weeks into the winter term and the team is already setting new records with a 2-0 winning streak, and the Kent community has been showing tremendous support for the Lions. Many students, teachers, and parents came to support the girls, cheering in the courts for the team.

The team played a total of seven matches, with a particularly suspenseful match between Kent’s Maya Weech ‘20 and her opponent Liz. There was tangible tension in the air, as the whole audience gathered around to witness the outcome. After an intense back and forth with the score tied, and with a powerful strike, Weech scored the winning point for Kent.

There are 12 girls on the team this year, including five new players – some of whom have never played before, and seven returners. They lost two players from last year, Nebeeka Saha ’20 and Lexy Pryor ’21 to the Varsity Squash team. Nevertheless, the co-captains, Peyton McSharry ’19 and Kayla Shah ’20, have brought a great balance of competition, spirit, and gratitude to the team. Coach Hunt explained he was most pleased with, “how competitive the girls have been because it was a little lacking last year.”

At the beginning of the season, after having to cut six girls in tryouts, Hunt asked the team what their individual goals were for the year. Interestingly, none of them set their minds on only winning, instead emphasizing on how they wanted to improve their skills. Coach Hunt has similar wishes for the team to “be better players at the end than they were at the beginning, measuring their success in improvement,” and never at the expense of “having fun.”