NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Thirteenth-seeded Drexel (6-9) won five of the first seven matches to secure a 5-4 victory over the 12th-seeded Navy squash team (13-5) in the opening round of the Hoehn Division at the 2019 College Squash Association Team Championship played over the next three days in New Haven, Conn.

"I'm incredibly proud of the effort the team put forth today against Drexel," said first-year Navy head coach Tyler Osborne. "Every one of our players deserves a hand not only for their effort, but more importantly for how they supported one another. It was a tremendous battle and heartbreaking to have lost the match, but it could not have been any closer."

Drexel jumped out to a 2-0 lead that featured Drexel's Noel Heaton taking a hard-fought five-game match at No. 6 with a 12-10 win in the final game over Navy senior Jamie Kjorlien (Greenwich, Conn.).

The Mids got on the board when rookie Ben Korn (Stevenson, Md.) picked up a 3-1 victory over Drexel junior Nathaniel Chan at No. 8

The Dragons came back to win two in a row at No. 3 and No. 5 with Navy senior Dylan Sweeney (New York, N.Y.) falling in a tough five-game decision to freshman Flip Krueger.

Freshman Ryan York (Hunt Valley, Md.) gave Navy its second win of the day and picked up his second win of the season over Drexel senior Royston Raymond with a 3-0 sweep at the No. 7 position.

Drexel, however, went on to clinch the team victory when freshman Matias Knudsen dealt the Mids' Michael Kacergis (Jr, Malvern, Pa.) a 3-1 loss.

Navy continued to fight, however, as team captain Senen Ubina (Sr, Greenwich, Conn.) captured an inspiring five-game win at No. 4, while No. 1 player Jack Lentz (So, Philadelphia, Pa.) produced a 3-1 win over Drexel's Bransten Ming. Ubina found himself in a deep hole, trailing Drexel senior Luke Willemse 2-0. Ubina, as he has so many times, battled his way back into the match with an 11-7 win in the third. He paired that with an 11-9 win in the fourth to force a fifth and final game. Ubina earned the match victory behind an 11-8 win in the fifth and in doing so took sole possession of eighth on Navy's all-time wins list with 75 victories over his four seasons.

The Midshipmen will be back on the court Saturday morning when they meet 16th-seeded Franklin & Marshall in the consolation semis at 11:00 am. Navy defeated F&M, 5-4, last Sunday in both teams' regular-season finale.


#13 Drexel def #12 Navy, 5-4
1 | Jack Lentz (N) def Bransten Ming (D), 11-7, 11-2, 7-11, 11-9
2 | Matias Knudsen (D) def. Michael Kacergis (N), 4-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-8
3 | Dylan Kachur (D) def Owen Davis (N), 8-11, 11-8, 11-4, 16-14
4 | Senen Ubina (N) def Luke Willemse (D), 10-12, 8-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-8
5 | Flip Krueger (D) def Dylan Sweeney (N), 11-7, 7-11, 11-9, 10-12, 11-4
6 | Noel Heaton (D) def. Jamie Kjorlien (N), 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 4-11, 12-10
7 | Ryan York (N) def Royston Raymond (D), 11-8, 12-10, 11-8
8 | Ben Korn (N) def Nathaniel Chan (D), 5-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-5
9 | Ryan Leslie (D) def. Danny Finnegan (N), 9-11, 11-5, 11-3, 11-8

### Go Navy ###