Jan. 28, 2007

Results

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The 10th-ranked Midshipmen squash team split its final two matches at the Yale Round Robin, dropping a 9-0 decision to No. 5 Yale on Saturday evening before rebounding to post a 9-0 victory over No. 21 Connecticut College Sunday morning. Navy, who finished the Yale Round Robin by splitting its four matches, will head into next weekend's Navy tournament with a 13-6 record.

Yale entered the Navy match with a 7-2 record and seven of its nine players on the ladder were ranked in the top 50, including 15th-ranked Nick Chirls who handed Navy's Tucker George (West Hartford, Conn.) a 9-4, 9-1, 9-3 setback in the No. 1 match. The Bulldogs won six of the nine matches in three games with the other three going into four games.

Navy junior Jeff Sawin (Haverford, Pa.) dropped the first two games of the No. 4 match against 26th-ranked Aaron Fuchs, but claimed the third game, 9-6. Fuchs earned the win by defeating Sawin 9-3 in the fourth game.

Sophomore Christopher Zipf (Gladwyne, Pa.) opened his match against No. 27 Ho Ming Chiu with a 9-6 win, but dropped the next three games to drop the No. 7 match. Like Zipf, Brian Hamilton (Lake Forest, Ill.) opened the No. 9 match with a 10-8 decision over Bill Hatch. Hatch, however, was able to regroup and run off three-straight wins to claim the match.

"Although we lost to a very tough Yale team, I felt the squad bounced back well from a close loss to Bates on Saturday morning," said Navy head coach Craig Dawson. "We played well against Yale and then came back to get a win against Connecticut College on Sunday."

In Navy's final match of the weekend, the Mids were able to turn the tables and blank Connecticut College. Playing in front of friends and family in his home state, George, ranked 38th in the country, got a win for the Mids. Rob Purple stole the first game, 9-7, but George came back to win the next three, including a hard-fought 10-8 victory in the fourth.

Sophomore Michael Beautyman Jr (Plymouth Meeting, Pa.) also dropped the first game of his match against John Evans at No. 4, but stormed back with 10-8, 9-5 and 9-6 wins to earn the victory and push his season record to 10-8.

Zipf was once again forced to play four games against his Connecticut College foe, but this time came out on top. Zipf won the first game, 9-7, but Will Moger edged out Zipf in the second, 10-8. Zipf came back to win the match with wins in the final two games (9-6, 9-4). Zipf now owns a team-best 14 wins.

Sophomore Allen Hartley (Charleston, W.Va.) has won five-straight matches after posting a 9-3, 9-5, 9-0 victory over Dan Bassett at the No. 9 spot.

The Midshipmen return to action next weekend when they play host to the Navy Invitational. Action is slated to begin Friday with a 7:00 pm match-up with Colgate. Navy will also battle Lafayette (Saturday, 10:00 am), Georgetown (Saturday, 2:00 pm) and Rochester (Sunday, 12:00 pm) this weekend.