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Brunswick Squash Goes Back-to-Back at U.S. Nationals

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Brunswick School's Max Finklestein and his clutch performance helped the Brunswick School squash team claim its second U.S. Squash National Championship in as many years. (photo courtesy of U.S. Squash)
Brunswick School’s Max Finklestein and his clutch performance helped the Brunswick School squash team claim its second U.S. Squash National Championship in as many years. (photo courtesy of U.S. Squash)

Head coach Jim Stephens knew he had a very good squad on his hands.

The Brunswick School squash team steamrolled through its competition during the regular season and entered this year’s U.S. Squash High School National Championship as the top seed and defending champion.

The head coach left the Philadelphia Cricket Club more proud of his team than ever…and also with the National Championship trophy once again.

“I am just proud of the kids and they handled it all very well,” Stephens said. “They are all good players, but they proved to me that, after watching them this weekend, that they are good competitors.”

The Bruins’ squash program has competed in eight national championship finals matches and have won the past two, an honor that Stephens doesn’t take lightly.

“Most people can’t say that they’ve won a national championship in their lifetime, so to do two in a row is pretty amazing,” Stephens said. “Brunswick has been in the finals eight times and we’ve won it twice now, which is pretty incredible. But it may never come your way again, so for these kids it’s a special moment.”

Brunswick School's Will Holey got the ball rolling on the Brunswick School squash team's national championship run against Haverford. (photo courtesy of U.S. Squash)
Brunswick School’s Will Holey got the ball rolling on the Brunswick School squash team’s national championship run against Haverford. (photo courtesy of U.S. Squash)

After dominating the competition in the early rounds, Brunswick met up with Haverford School in the championship match, a team that was from the Philadelphia area and had a cheering section that was quite motivated.

In a back-and-forth battle with Haverford, the championship came down to the No. 4 match between Brunswick sophomore Max Finklestein and Haverford’s Justin Shah. The Bruins were leading the match 3-2 and needed just one more win, however Haverford’s No. 1 player was beating Brunswick on the other court and Finklestein was getting outplayed and quickly fell behind 2-0.

“We were down 2-0 and I thought Haverford won the tournament for sure,” Stephens said. “In squash, that is a big deficit. He lost the two game easily and got beaten pretty badly there, but then he started making his comeback and finally won it 11-5 in the fifth. It was a pretty hostile crowd. We were in Philadelphia playing against a Philadelphia school.”

And what a comeback it was. After falling 7-11 and 6-11 in the first two set, Finklestein showed amazing resilience and came back to win the next three sets 11-3, 11-8 and 11-5 to secure the national championship for Brunswick.

“I’ve been coaching 31 years at Brunswick, but in all my time I have never seen anybody do that,” Stephens said. “Certainly we have had other kids that played great squash matches, but never anybody that has come back from being that far down. I’ve been doing this for so long that I don’t get that emotional at times, but when I saw what was happening, I was very emotional and proud of Max.”

Not bad for an athlete that just started playing on the top varsity squad at the school this year.

“For a sophomore and for being in this tournament for the first time, to do as well as he did was amazing,” Stephens said. “He was on my second varsity team last year. That’s a big step up to go from second varsity to No. 4 as a sophomore.”

In addition to Finklestein, fellow sophomores Will Holey, Patrick Feeley and senior Drew Monroe picked up victories on the day.

Holey got the ball rolling, as Brunswick’s No. 7 player had a second game to remember that keyed the victory. In that second game, Holey blitzed Haverford’s William Glaser 11-1. He went on to win the two other sets 12-10 and 11-7.

The Bruins kept the good times rolling at the No. 5 spot, as Feeley pulled out the five-game victory. After winning the first two games 11-7 and 11-8, Peter Miller from Haverford made a run, winning the next two 11-9 and 11-3. In the deciding game, Feeley sealed the victory with the 11-7 win.

Although Brunswick had the two of the four games needed to clinch a championship, Haverford wouldn’t go down quietly. Haverford’s Duncan Joyce cut the deficit to 2-1 after going five games and beating Tyler Carney 9-11, 11-7, 13-15, 11-4, 16-14. Not to be outdone was Grant Sterman at No. 6 as he upended Boden Polikioff 11-3, 12-10, 9-11, 11-6.

Brunswick's Pat Feeley takes to the court during the championship match against Haverfortd. (photo courtesy of U.S. Squash)
Brunswick’s Pat Feeley takes to the court during the championship match against Haverfortd. (photo courtesy of U.S. Squash)

The competition was tough and we haven’t played Haverford all year,” Stephens said. “They had a very partisan crowd and raucous, but our kids really had great composure and handled the pressure quite well. It was good.”

Senior Drew Monroe helped Brunswick get within inches of the championship by finishing off Haverford’s William Means at No. 3 in four games 11-6, 11-8, 8-11 and 11-9.

Battling an injury that sidelined Brunswick top squash player and two-time All-American David Yacobucci for the first two matches of the tournament, he came back in the semis against Avon and picked up the win.

However, after trailing to Haverford top player Sean Hughes and eventually falling 11-7, 11-2, 11-5, it was up to Finkletstein and his heroics.

There were 1,800 kids in total that were playing and the boys have seven divisions with 16 teams in each division. Brunswick, which hasn’t lost a match this year and won the National Championship last season, was seeded tops in the first flight.

Brunswick’s road to the championship wasn’t the smoothest journey. To start the tourney, the Bruins had to square off against Lawrenceville, a school that has won three national championships and beat Brunswick three times in the title match.

Then it was a match against Deerfield and then it was off to play Avon Old Farms, a team that captured the national championship two years ago.

In an epic national championship match, Brunswick beat Haverford, 4-3, securing its second straight U.S. Squash Team National Championship on Sunday in Philadelphia.

Stephens said that he credited the hard work, both in and out of the squash courts, of captains Yacobucci and Monroe.

“I think a lot of success goes to their leadership,” Stephens said. “They have been great leaders and great role models for the younger guys. They are a very good team, in regards to everybody getting along well and everybody is supporting everybody. I have kids coaching kids. For those guys to win two national championships is amazing. The level of play is so high now, so for them to be so successful is amazing.”

And Brunswick’s not the only one to achieve greatness in town. The Greenwich Academy squash team also won a National Championship during the event. Check out next week’s Sentinel for a complete article on the Gators claiming another title.

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