Feb. 24, 2007

Results

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - For the first time since 1989, the Navy squash team has advanced to the championship match of their division at the 2007 College Squash Association Team Championship following a hard-fought 7-2 victory over Bates Saturday afternoon in New Haven, Conn. Seeded 12th in the tournament, Navy defeated Brown, 8-1, in the opening round of play on Friday, before upsetting the top-seeded team in the Hoehn Division bracket, No. 9 Bates, on Saturday to advance to the finals Saturday against 11th-seeded Cornell.

Three Midshipmen avenged losses suffered earlier in the season, including freshman Ben Mantica (Binghamton, N.Y.) who defeated Chip Russell, 9-6, 3-9, 4-9, 9-1, 9-7, at the No. 6 spot. The match earlier in the year was also a five-game match where the winner claimed the first game before dropping the next two and fighting back to earn the win. One of two rookies in Navy's lineup, Mantica continues to flourish and owns an impressive 22-7 record.

Junior Brian Hamilton (Lake Forest, Ill.) lost a five-game decision to Charlie Johnson at the end of January, but bounced back to dominate his match Saturday against Johnson, 9-2, 9-3, 9-4. Hamilton, who plays the No. 9 spot in the lineup, owns Navy's longest winning streak, earning wins in each of his last 12 matches.

Second-year standout Michael Beautyman Jr (Plymouth Meeting, Pa.) dropped a tough four-game match to No. 5 player Jordan Greenberg a month ago, but came out the victory after Greenberg was forced to retire from an injury. Greenberg won the opening match, 9-0, before Beautyman knotted the match with a 9-6 game-two win. With the third game tied up at eight apiece, Greenberg could no longer continue, giving Navy the point.

The Mids picked up back-to-back wins at the No. 3 and 4 positions with sophomore Alastair Smith (Hillsborough, N.J.) defeating Kush Mahan in four games, while two-year letterwinner Jeff Sawin (Haverford, Pa.) turned in a 3-2 victory over Gary Kan. Smith has now won 10 in a row, while Sawin has won 23 of his 26 matches this season, including 11 straight.

Sophomore Christopher Zipf (Gladwyne, Pa.) turned in a 3-0 victory over Deacon Chapin in the No. 7 matchup. Zipf, who has won three in a row, continues to lead the Midshipmen with 24 wins in 2006-07.

Playing in the final tournament of his career, senior Dan Hellier (Modesto, Calif.) picked up a 9-3, 9-0, 7-9, 10-9 win over Marc Taggart at No. 8 to help lead the Mids to their 23rd victory, just one off the school record set during the 2004-05 campaign.

Navy will face Cornell in the Hoehn Division Championship Sunday beginning at 12:00 pm. The Big Red narrowly defeated the Midshipmen, 5-4, in Ithaca, N.Y. on Feb. 10. Though Navy leads the all-time series, 16-11, the Big Red have won eight in a row against the Midshipmen. The last time Navy defeated Cornell was in 1996 when the Mids claimed a 6-3 decision on the road. Meanwhile, Cornell has beaten Navy two of the three times the two programs have met in postseason action. Cornell won the last two outings, including a 7-2 decision in 1998. Navy's lone win against the Big Red in postseason competition was in 1994, when the Mids captured a 6-3 decision.