For the second weekend in a row, the boys and girls varsity squash team played in a major season-end tournament, this time competing at the New England championships on the weekend of March 1.

Competing in the Class A tournament, the boys varsity finished fifth overall, in a tournament that featured a new head-to-head team format similar to that used as the U.S. High School Team Championships.

The girls captured the Class B tournament championship, competing in the traditional format where each player in the ladder played in a separate draw. The Bearcats finished with a combined match record of 15-4, with no player finishing lower than fifth in her draw.

The girls team also captured the Nishad Das Team Sportsmanship Award for the second year in a row.

The boys suffered a tough 6-1 loss in its opener against Deerfield, with Obi Okoli ’20 earning the team’s only win at #4. Heading into the consolation bracket, the team bounced back with two decisive victories, first dispatching Milton 6-1 and then downing Avon 5-2 to earn their fifth-place overall finish. The team has finished fifth or higher each of the last five years.

Every member of the boys team earned at least one victory over the two days, with Okoli earning a clean sweep of his three matches. Also competing for Hotchkiss were Taylor Clayton ’20, Callan Venkatesan ’23, Sam Charlton ’20, William Burke ’22, John Nicholson ’22, and William Eun ’20.

The girls had a tremendously successful weekend competing in the Class B tournament, with the highlight being Lauren Sonneborn ’23 winning the #6 draw in her first appearance.

In other results, #1 Ellie Burke ’20 finished third; #2 Makayla Oas ’21 also finished third; #3 Nina Flinn ’21 finished fifth with an epic five-set victory in the consolation final; #4 Mary Wood ’23 finished second with an equally epic battle in the finals (13-11, 11-7, 8-11, 10-12, 10-12); #5 Yitong Wu ’20 finished fifth with sweeps in her final two matches; and #7 Tina Deng ’21 finished third.