Feb. 3, 2007

Results

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The 10th-ranked Midshipmen squash team (16-6) swept Colgate (9-0), Lafayette (5-0) and Georgetown (9-0) at the Navy Invitational on Friday and Saturday that was held at the Halsey Squash Courts in Annapolis. Navy has now won four in a row dating back to its Jan. 28 victory over Connecticut College in New Haven, Conn.

Four Midshipmen played in all three matches, including freshman Ben Mantica (Binghamton, N.Y.) who led off the weekend with a 9-0, 9-0, 9-0 victory over Colgate's No. 6 player Reuben Nathanson on Friday night. Mantica got the nod to play the No. 1 spot in the "emerging teams" match against Lafayette where he posted a 9-0, 9-4, 9-2 win over Jeremy Turner. In the afternoon finale, he defeated Greg Gartin of Georgetown, 9-0, 9-1, 9-3, at No. 6. Mantica owns a 15-6 record in his rookie campaign and has won six of his last 10 matches.

Second-year standout Christopher Zipf (Gladwyne, Pa.) also swept his three opponents and featured a pair of matches in which he did not give up a point. On Saturday, he turned in a 9-0, 9-0, 9-0 victory over Akhil Daswani of Lafayette and hours later blanked Georgetown's Chris Verillo. Zipf is pacing Navy this winter with 17 wins and is 7-3 in his last 10 matches.

Junior Jeff Sawin (Haverford, Pa.), who is ranked 75th in the country and has lost just two matches in his last 10 outings, picked up a pair of wins. Sawin defeated Andy Culp from Colgate, 9-0, 9-1, 9-0, in the No. 4 matchup, while sweeping Calin Gunn of Georgetown, 9-0, 9-0, 9-0.

Sophomore Allen Hartley (Charleston, W.Va.) owns Navy's longest current winning streak with five-straight victories, including a win by default in the Mids' Lafayette match. On the year, he is 6-1.

The Mids, who have won 12 of their 16 matches by a 9-0 count, will conclude the Navy Invitational with a noon battle against 19th-ranked Rochester on Sunday. The featured matchup will pit Navy's Tucker George (West Hartford, Conn.), 12-4 this winter and ranked No. 38, against Rochester's top player, 12th-ranked Jim Bristow, a freshman from England.