For the first time since 2017, the Darien High School Boys Squash team will celebrate as the FairWest League Champions! The best squash team both public and private in Fairfield County and Westchester County.

This win came when Darien (8-4) took down Staples High School (1-8) 6-1 on Tuesday at Chelsea Piers.

Darien jumped to the early lead when junior Kai Sparks defeated Brett Lampert 3-0. The Wave added another win at singles 2, with junior Marcus Ashcraft taking care of Staples’s Clint Graham 3-0. Ashcraft won by an impressive margin winning 11-1, 11-2, and 11-0.

The Wave continued to roll with singles 4, Sean Roberts picking up the win 3-0 over Ariston Liu. Darien now led 3-0 and needed one more match to secure the match win and the FairWest trophy.

In singles 6, Staples’ Evan Walliet jumped out to the early 1-0 lead after winning game 1 11-9, but then Darien senior captain Andrew Banks turned in his best performance of the season winning the next three games, 11-8, 11-4 and 11-9. This gave Banks the 3-1 win and Darien their fourth and clinching match.

The Wave still went strong with Cornell bound singles 1 Arnav Tetavia handing Ben Saxon a 3-0 loss and fellow senior captain Will Koons picking up the win at singles 3. Darien controlled a 6-0 match lead over the Wreckers heading into the final singles 7 match.

This match saw Staples’s Josh Jordan go toe to toe with Darien’s Sebastian Kelsey. Jordan went out to the 2-0 lead before dropping the third game, however, Jordan closed out business in the fourth game winning 3-1 and the only match for Staples on the night.

Nonetheless, the Wave turned in a 6-1 victory over the Wreckers advancing them to 9-4 on the season and claiming the crown in the FairWest League.

The Wave, under first-year head coach Will Newnham has potentially their strongest team in school history and capsules that with the FairWest crown.

“We are proud to be able to take home the FairWest title and we have a lot of seniors on this team who have been looking for this win for a while,” Senior captain Andrew Banks said.

“I’m really proud of all the guys we have, it’s been a huge season so far and I’m so proud to have such a successful year,” Stated Darien senior captain Will Koons.

Darien will celebrate as FairWest Champions but shift their attention to the High School Nationals next week at the Arlen Specter Squash Center in Philadelphia. Darien will compete in Division 1 national tournament for the first team in program history, this upgrade classifies Darien as one of the top 16 teams (public and private high schools) in the country!

Regardless of the Nationals results, the 2022-23 Darien Boys Squash team has cemented itself in the history of Darien Squash.