MHS Squash Club Competes in Tournament

The Millburn High School Squash Club competed for the first time in the U.S. Squash National High School Team Championships held at Yale University, Trinity College and Wesleyan College in Connecticut last month.

Over 1,300 high school players, on over 100 teams, competed in this event. The club's accomplishment is particularly noteworthy: the Millburn High School squad was one of only three public high schools competing at the event and the Millers were the only team with a co-ed roster playing in the boys’ division.  The Millers are also the first public high school in New Jersey to field a competitive club team.

The Millers' tournament was highlighted by a 6-1 final round victory over the Nichols School from Buffalo, N.Y. In their victory over Nichols, the Millers were paced by wins by senior co-captains Mark Funk, Hannah Flaum and Benjamin Schechner.  Schechner got the Millers off to a great start with a convincing 3-game-to-zero triumph over the No. 2 Nichols player. That win was shortly followed by a marathon five-games contest in which sophomore Andrew Beacham held off a hard charging Nichols player to put the Millers up 2-0. Following a tough loss by junior co-captain Samira Somany, her brother freshman Aadit Somany got the Millers back on track with a solid 3-1 over the third rank player from Nichols. Next, senior Steven Near came back from a two game deficit to win the next three games and his win secured the fourth and decisive match for the Millers. Mark Funk, who will be playing squash next year at Dartmouth College, scored a 3-games-to-1 victory over the top-ranked Nichols player, and in the final contest of the match and the tournament, Hannah Flaum held off a late rally by Nichols’ fourth ranked player to secure a 3-2 win.