Feb. 19, 2009

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The 13th-ranked Navy squash team (26-6) will face No. 12 Bates (14-7) on Friday at 9:30 am (The Lawrenceville School) in the opening round of the College Squash Association (CSA) Team Championship held this weekend in Princeton, N.J. The Mids are competing in the Hoehn Division which features Western Ontario, Williams, Franklin & Marshall, Bates, Navy, Brown, St. Lawrence and Amherst all vying for the No. 9-16 positions.

The Mids enter this weekendâ•'s team championship having enjoyed a record-breaking season that featured wins in each of their first 13 matches. Navy owns a 26-6 record, eclipsing the previous school record for wins that was set by the 2004-05 squad with 24. This is the third time in Craig Dawsonâ•'s nine seasons at the Academy that he has directed the Mids to a 20-win season, while two other years the Mids fell just short with 19.

Navy is 1-2 this season against teams competing in the Hoehn Division, dropping a 7-2 decision to 10th-seeded Williams, as well as a 5-4 heartbreaker against No. 11 Franklin & Marshall a week ago. Meanwhile, the Mids earned a 7-2 decision over 15th-seeded St. Lawrence in what was the first meeting between the two programs.

Though Navy has not faced Bates this season, the two squads are familiar with one another, battling nearly 20 times in past years. The Mids own an 11-6 series advantage, though the Bobcats have won four of the last five matches. Bates owns a 2-1 edge in CSA Championship battles, though Navy earned a 7-2 victory over the Bobcats en route to a 10th-place finish in 2007.

â•¥The Bates squash team in the first round will be a challenge,â•™ said Dawson. â•¥Although we did not play Bates in the regular season, its scores against Franklin & Marshall, Williams and St. Lawrence are almost identical to Navy's. It will be one of those matches that goes down to one or two points in any given game.

â•¥Our players are up to the task, it's just a matter of performing Friday morning.â•™

Anchoring Navyâ•'s efforts this weekend will be junior Nils Mattsson (Spring House, Pa.), who is one of eight Midshipmen on the ladder to reach 20 wins this season. Navyâ•'s No. 1 player, Mattsson owns a 20-6 record and enters the weekend having won four consecutive matches, including a promising 3-0 sweep against 23rd-ranked Nadav Tannen of Franklin & Marshall.

Sophomore Allan Lutz (McLean, Va.), along with junior Justin Langan (St. Louis, Mo.) lead the team with 24 wins, which is tied for the fifth-best single-season wins mark by a Navy player under Dawsonâ•'s direction. Lutz is playing the No. 2 position for the Mids and has reached the 20-win milestone in each of his first two seasons. Langan, meanwhile, is a first-year varsity member who has flourished in the middle part of the lineup.

Meanwhile, senior team captain Christopher Zipf (Gladwyne, Pa.) is the most experienced player on the Navy roster having played in 107-career matches. With 73 wins, he needs two wins to take sole possession of second on the Midsâ•' career wins list during the Dawson era, a position currently held by 2005 graduate Mike Brennan.

Navy will face either No. 9 Western Ontario or No. 16 Amherst on Saturday. Should Navy beat Bates in the opening round, Saturdayâ•'s match would begin at 12:00 pm at Jadwin Gym, however a loss would send the Mids to the consolation bracket for a 6:00 pm battle, also at Jadwin Gym.

Hoehn Division (No. 9-16)                                 vs. Navy      All-TimeRk.    School                    in 08-09      Series9      Western Ontario                ---      W. Ontario, 3-010     Williams             Williams, 7-2      Navy, 31-1811     Franklin & Marshall       F&M, 5-4      Navy, 33-1412     Bates                          ---      Navy, 11-613     Navy14     Brown                          ---      Brown, 7-515     St. Lawrence             Navy, 7-2      Navy, 1-016     Amherst                        ---      Navy, 30-7
Navy's Projected LineupRk     Player            Record    Strk49     Nils Mattsson       20-6    Won-478     Allan Lutz          24-5    Lost-1158    Ben Mantica         22-6    Lost-1163    Brad Seidel         23-6    Won-1167    Allen Hartley       23-5    Won-5252    Justin Langan       24-6    Won-1200    Christopher Zipf    22-6    Lost-1---    Tommy McNamara      23-5    Lost-1389    Clayton Young       11-0    Won-11