March 4, 2007

Results

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Navy freshman Nils Mattsson (Spring House, Pa.) trailed teammate Jeff Sawin (Haverford, Pa.) two games to none, but rallied back to win the Molloy Division of the 2007 College Squash Association Individual Championship held over the weekend on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. The Molloy Division features squash players ranked No. 33-64 in the country.

"Nils, Jeff, Alastair (Smith) and Tucker (George) all represented the Naval Academy well this weekend," said Navy head coach Craig Dawson. "Nils and Jeff left it all out on the court today. It was a classic. It was a good end to what was a great weekend for the Navy squash program."

Mattsson, who dismissed teammate Alastair Smith in the semifinals, 3-0, fell behind early in the match as Sawin looked to have the match in control with back-to-back wins, 9-3 and 9-6. Mattsson stopped the momentum briefly with a 9-2 victory in the third game to narrow Sawin's lead to 2-1. Sawin looked to have the match won as he took an 8-5 lead in the fourth and even had a match ball to win, however, Mattsson fought back to take the fourth game, 10-8. He claimed the match win with a 9-1 victory in the deciding game and became the first player under Dawson's watch to win an individual title at the championship.

The loss was just the fourth this season suffered by Sawin as he finished the season with a 28-4 record, while Mattsson produced a 25-9 mark in his rookie season.