March 5, 2010
HARTFORD, Conn. - Navy squash standouts Nils Mattsson (Spring House, Pa.) and Allan Lutz (McLean, Va.) were among the 80 men's players who converged upon the campus of Trinity College to take part in the 2010 College Squash Association (CSA) Individual Championship held at the Ferris Athletic Center on Friday. After the first day of action, both Navy players remain active in the competition with Mattsson still in contention for All-America honors.
Mattsson, who made the Pool Division cut from which All-Americans are selected, opened the tournament with perhaps the biggest win of his collegiate career. The Navy senior upset Rochester's Hameed Ahmed in straight sets, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 to advance to the round of 16.
"I can't say enough how proud I am of how Nils played this afternoon," said Navy head coach Craig Dawson. "I've never had a player win his first round match in the Pool Division, so I'm ecstatic for Nils. He definitely played the best match of his career and just dismantled his opponent."
Mattsson was unable to get past his second-round opponent, however, as third-seeded Parth Sharma handed Mattsson an 11-8, 11-7, 11-6 defeat. Sharma a junior who has lost just four career matches, is the No. 2 player off the host Trinity squad who two weeks ago claimed its 12th consecutive CSA Team Championship.
Meanwhile, Lutz kicked off the tournament with an electrifying victory over Stanford's top player, Sam Gould, in the round of 64 in the Molloy Division. After finding himself in a 2-1 deficit in the match, Lutz battled back to even the match with a game four victory, 12-10. All told, he fought off seven match balls to score the match victory behind a 12-10 win in game five.
"Allan was slowed up a little bit this season by a bad ankle, but he fought his way back to help our team in the second half of the season," said Dawson. "He put forth a great effort today and when things looked as though they might go his way, he battled back once again to win his first round match."
Lutz will hist the courts first on Saturday when he faces Brown's Brad Thompson at 9:50 am in the second consolation draw. Mattsson will face an opponent to be announced at 1:30 in his quest to garner All-America honors.
March 5, 2010 • CSA Individual Championship, Hartford, Conn.
Nils Mattsson (Pool Division)
Round of 32 - def. Hameed Ahmed (Rochester), 11-5, 11-8, 11-8
Round of 16 - lost to 3rd-seeded Parth Sharma (Trinity), 11-8, 11-7, 11-6
Consolation 2nd draw - 1:30 pm To Be Determined
Allan Lutz (Molloy Division)
Round of 64 - def. Sam Gould (Stanford), 7-11, 11-7, 4-11, 12-10, 12-10
Round of 32 - lost to 7th-seeded Arjun Gupta (Cornell), 11-8, 11-6, 11-6
Consolation 2nd draw - 9:50 am Saturday vs. Brad Thompson (Brown)
### Go Navy ###
