Feb. 23, 2007

Results

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The 12th-ranked Navy squash team (22-7) snapped a seven-match losing streak to No. 13 Brown (3-10) Friday afternoon in the first round of the College Squash Association Team Championship held at Yale University. The Mids, who had last beaten the Bears in 1993, easily defeated Brown, 8-1, and will play the winner of the Bates-Rochester match on Saturday at 12:00 pm.

Navy's win over Brown marks the first time the Mids have won a first-round CSA Team Championship contest since the 2001-02 when Craig Dawson led them to a 7-2 victory over Franklin & Marshall.

"I think our Navy team hit on almost all cylinders today," said an elated Dawson, who has led the Mids to 20-plus win seasons in two of the last three years. "We had some gutty performances and hard-fought matches. We are looking forward to playing in the second round tomorrow."

Junior captain Tucker George (West Hartford, Conn.) anchored Navy's win by picking up a 9-5, 10-8, 9-7 victory over 49th-ranked Daniel Petrie at the No. 1 position. George is now 6-4 over the last 10 matches and owns a 6-6 record against competition ranked in the top 25.

Freshman Nils Mattsson (Spring House, Pa.), ranked No. 78 in the country, earned his first postseason win with a 3-1 victory over No. 41 Edward Cerullo at the No. 2 spot. Mattsson opened the match with a 10-8 win, but Cerullo knotted that match by claiming game two, 9-1. Mattsson, however, pulled out victories in the third and fourth to push his winning streak to four in a row.

Earning his 20th win of the season was sophomore Alastair Smith (Hillsborough, N.J.) who cruised to a 9-7, 9-0, 9-6 win over Adam Greenberg at the No. 3 position. Also earning their 20th win of the season were No. 8 player Dan Hellier (Modesto, Calif.) and No. 9 Brian Hamilton (Lake Forest, Ill.). Hellier earned a 9-3, 9-1, 3-9, 9-6 win over Mark Goldberg, while Hamilton nearly held Alex Heitzmann without a point in his 9-1, 9-0, 9-0 victory.

Junior Jeff Sawin (Haverford, Pa.) , Navy's No. 4 player, earned a 9-0, 8-10, 9-2, 9-2 win over North Whipple at No. 4, while rookie Ben Mantica (Binghamton, N.Y.) rolled past Patrick Davis, 9-0, 9-0, 9-0, at No. 6.

Navy came out on top in the closest match-up of the day that pit sophomore Christopher Zipf (Gladwyne, Pa.) against Brown's Jacob Winkler. Zipf took the opening game, 9-5, before Winkler won back-to-back games, 9-2 and 9-6, to take a 2-1 lead. Zipf fought back to take game four 9-7 and earned the point for the Mids with a 9-3 victory in the final game.

Hamilton owns Navy's longest winning streak heading into Saturday's second-round matchup, earning wins in each of his last 11 matches. Sawin, meanwhile, has won 10 in a row, while Zipf has claimed nine-straight "w's."

Brown, who leads the all-time series with the Midshipmen, 7-5, was the only team in the Hoehn Division that Navy did not face during the regular season. Prior to Friday's contest, the Bears had won seven in a row against the Midshipmen, six of those in postseason competition.

Navy will face either Bates or Rochester in the second round of the CSA Team Championship. The Mids dropped a tight 5-4 decision to Bates on Jan. 27, while defeating Rochester, 7-2, on Feb. 4.