Family and friends gathered at Dexter Southfield High School (Dexter) on Wednesday, Feb. 8 to watch the varsity squash teams’ last game of the season before heading to nationals. The boys (6-6) and girls (7-7) varsity squash teams lost 6-1 and 5-2 to Dexter, respectively.

Four out of the seven boys’ matches went to five games. A Dexter player won every match, with the exception of Brookline senior and captain Rohan Sekhar’s game.

Girls captains junior Ofri Geva and senior Helen Krakoff won their matches with four games instead of five, but Dexter won the remaining five matches.

Girls varsity head coach Steve Lantos said the team did well in their last game but could not secure the win.

“The great thing about sports is you can win one day and play the same team another day and not win. Last night we were dominant. Tonight we got dominated,” Lantos said.

Krakoff won her first two games, but lost her third 13-11. Despite having lost the third game, Krakoff won the whole match by winning her fourth game 11-7.

Geva said that Lantos gave her valuable advice between her second and third game.

“He said, ‘Don’t let your guard down. You have to keep pushing forward even if you’re ahead,’” Geva said.

Lantos said he gave his team suggestions on how to not lose patience during the heat of the moment.

“The team needs to keep the ball out of the middle and in play. In other words, force the air on the opponent and don’t kill or drop,” Lantos said. “When you get nervous or impatient, the tendency is to do a little drop shot or go for a kill, and more often than not, you lose the point because the ball hits the tin. Squash is a very patient sport.”

According to Geva, playing against Dexter Southfield was a great learning experience, especially for their last game of the regular season.

“It’s always really special playing Dexter Southfield. It’s usually very competitive. Everyone from the team comes and cheers each other on,” Geva said. “Out of all of the schools, Dexter Southfield is my favorite school to play against. It’s a great way to end the year and say our final goodbyes.”

Sekhar’s match started with a loss and two wins. He lost the next game 11-9, but Sekhar won the last game out of the five with a score of 11-7.

Sekhar said that he thought the close game between him and his opponent went really well despite challenges throughout the match.

“This is the best way I could have envisioned the last game going, which was a close game where I had to overcome some adversities and get the win,” Sekhar said.

Sekhar said that his teammates and coaches gave him really helpful tips in between matches.

“People who gave me advice said to have one cohesive strategy throughout which was keeping them in the back,” Sekhar said. “My opponent was really strong up front and agile, but I had him outmatched in hitting the ball with strokes from the back.”

Lantos said that even though the team was losing, they did not give up.

“There was a never give up feeling even if the opponent was dominant,” Lantos said. “The thing I learned was that our players can’t quit, they want to play to win.”

Lantos said he is confident Squash Nationals in Pennsylvania will go well.

“Coaches have winning years and building years and we are in between those two,” Lantos said. “We are in a good place with both the girls’ and boys’ teams. We’ve been picking up steam. I think we are going to do well at nationals.”