Nov. 18, 2006
Results
HANOVER, N.H. - The Navy squash team split its two matches held at Dartmouth College Friday and Saturday, where it dropped it first match of the season to Dartmouth, 6-3, while upsetting 14th-ranked Bowdoin, 8-1. The Mids, who are now 9-1 on the year, will face No. 1-ranked Trinity Sunday at 12:00 pm.
Navy opened the weekend by nearly knocking off seventh-ranked Dartmouth Friday night. The Mids lost two matches that went extra games, including a 3-2 loss by Dan Hellier (Modesto, Calif.) at the hands of Jim Crandell. Crandell opened up the match with a 9-5 win before Hellier came storming back to take a 2-1 lead with a 9-5 and 9-2 wins in the second and third games. Crandell, however, pulled even with a 9-5 win in game four and eventually took the match with a 9-6 decision in the final game.
On the other side of the coin, the Mids won all three of their matches in either four or five games. Navy's top-ranked player Tucker George (West Hartford, Conn.) upset 25th-ranked Todd Wood in a four-game match. George dropped the opening game, 9-1, but won the next three to take the match. Junior Jeff Sawin (Haverford, Pa.) pulled out a thriller at the No. 4 spot against Ted Newhouse. After losing the first game, 9-3, Sawin gained a 2-1 advantage by winning back-to-back matches, 9-6 and 10-8, respectively. Newhouse forced a fifth game by winning the fourth, 9-7, while Sawin earned the win by a 9-5 count. Finally, junior Brian Hamilton (Lake Forest, Ill.) clinched a win at No. 9 with a 3-1 victory over Dartmouth's Billy Nix.
"We had our chances to pull an upset, but we just fell short," said Navy head coach Craig Dawson, whose team won the most games against Dartmouth since 1995 when the Mids pulled off an 8-1 win over the Big Green at the NISRA (CSA) Team Championship.
On Saturday, the Mids earned an 8-1 victory over Bowdoin. A fierce rivalry, Navy last beat the Polar Bears in 2005 at the CSA Team Championship, 7-2.
George was forced into a fifth game after dropping a 10-9 decision to Matthew Dresher in the fourth game. However, George didn't let up in the deciding game, as he blanked Dresher in the final match to earn a 3-2 win. Sophomore Christopher Zipf (Gladwyne, Pa.) was also a winner in five games, as Elliot Beck won the first and fourth games at No. 7. Zipf posted a 9-7 win in the fifth to earn a point for the Midshipmen. Both Hamilton (No. 9) and sophomore Michael Beautyman Jr (Plymouth Meeting, Pa.) (No. 5) lost the first game of their matches, but the two rallied to defeat their foes, 3-1.
### Go Navy ###
