ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Rising senior Michael Kacergis (Malvern, Pa.), a three-year letterwinner and one half of the defending National Championship-winning doubles team, has been selected by a vote of his teammates to serve as the Navy squash captain for the 2019-20 season.

"I'm excited to have Mike as our team captain for the upcoming season," said head coach Tyler Osborne, who directed Navy to a 13-7 record a year ago in his first season coaching the Mids. "Mike is a true leader both on and off the court and has the team's best interest at heart. He truly loves this program and I can't wait to get to work later this year."

"I am incredibly honored to get the chance to captain the squash team this year," said Kacergis. "This is a group of guys that I think can do some real damage in the league next year, and it is a team that is also a blast to work with every day. I am excited to help carry on the great legacy of this program along with Owen Davis as the next senior class. Owen and I are really excited to bring our own personality and character to the team, while still holding true to what Navy Squash is. I have had three great captains in the time that I have been on the team, Randy (Beck), Jack (Herold) and Senen (Ubina), and I think I can learn a lot from how each of them led. I am counting down the days until the start of the season!

Kacergis enters his senior campaign having amassed a 50-25 (.667) career record, including a 13-8 mark a year ago. As a freshman, he posted a 21-5 mark while seeing action on the ladder between 4-7, while his sophomore year he played the No. 1 and 2 spots where he produced a 16-12 mark. Last season he fell in at No. 2, 3 and 4 and was undefeated (10-0) at the No. 3 and 4 positions.

Kacergis won Navy's coveted Barb Tournament in the fall of 2017, defeating teammate Jack Lentz in four games to become the 40th different midshipmen to win the week-long round-robin tournament. Michael and his older brother, Jim, are just the second set of brothers to win the tournament, joining Jon (1980) and Spencer Wall (1983, '84, '85). Jim Kacergis, a 2015 graduate of the Naval Academy, won the tournament in the fall of 2012. Michael is one of five Kacergis brothers to attend the Naval Academy - Jim ('15), Bill ('16), John ('19) and Joe ('23).

An accomplished doubles player, Kacergis paired up with 2018-19 Navy team captain Senen Ubina to defeat Navy teammates Jamie Kjorlien and Lentz and capture the 2018 U.S. Intercollegiate Doubles Championship in a thrilling five-game match.

Navy will again send a handful of pairs to compete at the U.S. Intercollegiate Doubles Championship in early October and opens the team and individual portion of its schedule on Nov. 2 with a trip to Canada where it will face Western Ontario.

### Go Navy ###