Feb. 22, 2009

Complete Results

PRINCETON, N.J. - Navy juniors Nils Mattsson (Spring House, Pa.) and Ben Mantica (Binghamton, N.Y.) each won their third straight match of the CSA Team Championship on Sunday afternoon, but it was not enough to lead the 13th-seeded Navy squash team to victory, as No. 14 Brown turned back the Mids, 6-3. Navy concludes its season with a No. 14 ranking, while producing a school-record 27 wins under the leadership of ninth-year head coach Craig Dawson.

In what was a grueling match, seven of the 10 matches were forced into extra games with four of the seven decided in five games. Unfortunately for the Mids, three of the four five-game decisions went against Navy in what could have turned the match the other direction.

Navy sophomore Allan Lutz (McLean, Va.) jumped out to a 2-1 lead in his match against fellow sophomore Ben Clayman, however, it was Clayman who was first two string together a pair of game winners to earn the 3-2 decision at the No. 2 position.

Brown's Pat Davis and Navy senior Allen Hartley (Charleston, W.Va.) traded off victories before Davis closed out the match with a 9-4 game five win at the No. 5 spot. Meanwhile, Navy junior Justin Langan (St. Louis, Mo.) looked to have the No. 6 match sewn up, as he built a 2-0 lead behind 9-1 and 9-5 victories. His counterpart, Evan Besser, however, fought back to take games three and four 10-9 and 10-8 to force a game five. Besser would complete the amazing come-from-behind win by nearly blanking Langan, 9-1, in the deciding game.

As previously mentioned, both Mattsson and Mantica enjoyed a successful CSA Tournament on an individual level. Mattsson won each of his three matches in 3-0 sweeps. In his final match of the weekend, he cruised to a 9-1, 9-1, 9-0 triumph over Adrian Urban Leanza at the No. 1 position. He will take a 23-6 record into next weekend's CSA Individual Championship that is slated to be played at Williams beginning on Friday.

Meanwhile, Mantica dropped his opening game to the Bears' Adam Greenberg, 10-8, but regrouped to win the next three, surrendering a combined two points in those games.

Finally, first-year varsity player Tommy McNamara (New York, N.Y.), a sophomore at the Academy, picked up his first win of the tournament with a 3-2 victory over Alex Heitzmann. Much like Langan, he had the match well in hand early with a 2-0 advantage. Heitzmann, though, knotted the match up after taking games three and four, 9-3 and 9-4. McNamara held on to take game five, 9-7, and secure the match win.

In addition to Mattsson, Lutz will also be in action at next weekend's CSA Individual Championship. A year ago, Lutz won the consolation title in his bracket at the championship that was held at Navy.

Brown 6, Navy 3 • Feb. 22, 2009 • Princeton, N.J.1   Nils Mattsson (N) def. Adrian Urban Leanza (B)   9-1, 9-1, 9-02   Ben Clayman (B) def. Allan Lutz (N)              3-9, 9-5, 5-9, 9-7, 9-23   Ben Mantica (N) def. Adam Greenberg (B)          8-10, 9-0, 9-1, 9-14   Brad Thompson (B) def. Brad Seidel (N)           9-4, 9-7, 9-75   Pat Davis (B) def. Allen Hartley (N)             9-4, 7-9, 9-3, 4-9, 9-46   Evan Besser (B) def. Justin Langan (N)           1-9, 5-9, 10-9, 10-8, 9-17   Tucker Bryan (B) def. Christopher Zipf (N)       9-2, 9-2, 9-68   Tommy McNamara (N) def. Alex Heitzmann (B)       9-4, 9-0, 3-9, 4-9, 9-79   Brett Camarda (B) def. Clayton Young (N)         9-6, 10-8, 9-1