ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The cardiac kids did it again! For the fourth time this season, the eighth-ranked Navy squash team (12-2) earned a 5-4 victory, this time defeating No. 21 Williams (7-6) on Saturday at the Halsey Field House International Squash Courts.

"We had another really hard-fought win for the team today," said first-year Navy head coach Tyler Osborne. "We needed to win three of the last four matches and the team came through.

"A lot of credit goes out to Williams today, though. It played a tough Franklin & Marshall team last night in a 5-4 win and the players gave everything they had against us today. It truly was a great college squash match."

Navy held the lead just twice in the match, winning the first and final matches of the day.

Ben Korn (Fr, Stevenson, Md.) continued what has been a solid rookie campaign playing the No. 9 position on the ladder. Korn won the first two games (11-7 and 11-8) of his match against Williams senior Ben Eisenberg, however, Eisenberg rallied to win the third and fourth games (11-7 and 11-4) to force a game five. The younger Korn proved the upper hand as he earned an 11-8 win in the fifth to take the day's first match, 3-2.

Williams regrouped and won two in a row, including a hard-fought match at No. 6 between Williams' Krish Bhavnani and Navy's Jamie Kjorlien (Sr, Greenwich, Conn.). Bhavnani took a 2-0 lead, but Kjorlien battled his way back into the match with back-to-back 13-11 wins to extend the match to five games. Bhavnani went on to take the match with an 11-4 win and gave the Ephs their first lead of the match at 2-1.

Navy and Williams exchanged wins over the next four matches with Michael Kacergis (Jr, Malvern, Pa.) sweeping Williams junior Carl Shuck at No. 2 and Dylan Sweeney (Sr, New York, N.Y.) earning a come-from-behind win in five against Will Means at No. 5. Sweeney opened his match with an 11-3 win, however, Means took games two and three to surge ahead, 2-1. Sweeney leveled the match with an 11-9 victory in the fourth and earned an 11-5 win in the fifth. The win marked Sweeney's 67th career victory and moved him in a tie for 13th on Navy's all-time wins list alongside former teammate Bill Kacergis (2012-16) and Scott Hackman (2002-06). He is just three win shy of becoming only the 12th player in school history to reach 70 wins.

"It's all about taking the emotions out of the match and not focusing on how close the match is, but rather your technique and fundamentals," said Sweeney, whose win was particularly important as the Mids needed to win three of their last four matches. "You resort to going back to the basics. When you do that, it all comes together."

The Ephs held a 4-3 advantage with two matches remaining. Jack Lentz (So, Philadelphia, Pa.), who was responsible for the match-winning victory in each of the other three 5-4 wins by Navy, leveled Saturday's match against Williams with a 3-0 victory over senior John Fitzgerald at the No. 1 flight.

With the match all square at four apiece, the match-winner would come down to the No. 4 position which featured Navy team captain Senen Ubina (Sr, Greenwich, Conn.) against Williams freshman Jacob Bassil. Bassil bested the Navy veteran, 11-7, in the opening match, but a standing room only crowd helped cheer Ubina to victory as he won the next three games - 11-8, 11-9, 11-5 - to secure the Mids' 12th win of the season.

"Having the entire team together in the 'pound' helps in our effort to support one another in a match like today where it came down to the final match," added Sweeney.

The Midshipmen will be back in action next Saturday when they play host to No. 16 Cornell at the Halsey Field House International Squash Courts. Action is set for 12:00 pm.


#8 Navy 5, #21 Williams 4
1 | Jack Lentz (N) def John Fitzgerald (W), 11-6, 12-10, 11-9
2 | Michael Kacergis (N) def Carl Shuck (W), 11-8, 13-11, 11-4
3 | Wyatt Khosrowshahi (W) def Owen Davis (N), 14-12, 7-11, 12-10, 11-9
4 | Senen Ubina (N) def Jacob Bassil (W), 7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-5
5 | Dylan Sweeney (N) def Will Means (W), 11-3, 9-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-5
6 | Krish Bhavnani (W) def Jamie Kjorlien (N), 11-8, 11-4, 11-13, 11-13, 11-4
7 | A.J. Solecki (W) def Ryan York (N), 11-9, 11-8, 11-6
8 | David Pincus (W) def Danny Finnegan (N), 18-16, 11-8, 11-3
9 | Ben Korn (N) def Ben Eisenberg (W), 11-7, 11-8, 7-11, 4-11, 11-8

### Go Navy ###