The Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School team just finished a run to the Division VI consolation finals at the 2024 US High School Squash Championships. Despite being seeded 16th, they gave the number-1 team (The Masters School from Dobbs Ferry, NY) a scare in the first round. Rory O’Hara, Will Harcourt, and Arjun Prabhala all nearly pulled off upsets in five-game matches, and Sohan Kilaru battled hard in a close 3-1 loss. (Teams consist of seven players.)

In the next round, the team upset the number-9 seed (Loyola from Baltimore) by a 4-3 score (with Miles Vengrin, Sohan, Rory, and Arjun all winning their matches).

In the consolation semifinals, they again upset a higher-seed — Friends Central from Philadelphia. This win was even more dramatic. In the number-one spot, Miles was down 0-2 in games, and won the next three to win in five. Sohan fell 3-1 to an extremely talented opponent, in a match that was much closer than the score indicated. Alex Woodworth played one of the best matches of the weekend, narrowly losing 12-10 in the fifth game on a disputed call. Sebastian Martinez came back from being down 1-2, and won 11-7 in the fifth, with impressive power and determination. Arjun dominated his opponent 3-0, and Will lost a heartbreaker 3-1 against a player with a significantly higher rating (although he won the longest and best point of the tournament, diving for an almost unreachable drop-shot, picking it up, and recovering to win the point).

Rory was the last player on court, with the overall match score tied at 3-3, and both teams (and a large crowd) watching the action. After losing the first game 11-9, he narrowly won the second and third, 13-11 and 12-10, to take a 2-1 lead. In the fourth game, it was neck-and-neck until he pulled away toward the end to win the match 3-1. It was fantastic seeing the team jump up excitedly after the last point to cheer and congratulate Rory.

In the final, they were up against the number-6 seeds, Seven Hills School from Cincinnati (all of whose players were rated significantly higher than ours).

Alex was impressive in beating their number-3 player in three games (with a final game score of 15-13). Will played extremely hard (and intelligently) against a strong opponent to win in five grueling games. Sohan’s match against another high-level player was again close, with Sohan losing 12-10 in the third.

At the number-one spot, Miles took a game off of a much more highly rated player, eventually losing 3-1.

Playing at number 4 (up a spot from his normal number 5), Rory was down 2-1 in games, and 10-1 in the fourth — and won 12 straight points to win 12-10. It was an incredible come-back, but he lost a close lost a close 5th game afterward.

Bobby Coates — who rescued the team by volunteering to drive up Saturday night for the last match on Sunday — pushed his opponent in the first game, narrowly losing 12-10, and eventually lost in three close games.

In the last match, Arjun almost pulled off a big comeback after being down 2-0 to his hard-hitting opponent — winning the third 11-8, and ultimately losing the fourth 11-9.