Winners of each of its last four matches, the 22nd-ranked Navy squash team (9-1) will face its toughest test to date when it travels to the City of Brotherly Love on Saturday to play No. 1 Penn (4-0), along with No. 17 Amherst (0-0). The Mids open the day facing the host Quakers at 9:00 am on courts 1, 3 and 4 before closing out with a 3:00 pm match against Amherst on courts 10, 11, 12.
Navy's Projected Lineup
Player (Yr / Hometown / 2021-22 record / career record)
1.
Millen Randell (Jr / Chicago, Ill. / 5-0 / 16-17)
2.
Ryan York (Sr / Hunt Valley, Md. / 4-0 / 26-22)
3.
Matt Wang (Fr / Malvern, Pa. / 5-0 / 5-0)
4.
Henry Sparkman (So / Darien, Conn. / 5-0 / 5-2)
5.
Ben Korn (Sr / Stevenson, Md. / 4-0 / 28-20)
6.
Lucas Spiro (Fr / Buffalo, N.Y. / 5-0 / 5-0)
7.
Tommy Rankin (Jr / Atlanta, Ga. / 4-0 / 11-18)
8.
Gus Prager (Sr / New York, N.Y. / 4-0 / 17-18)
9.
Ben Balser (Jr / Brooklyn, N.Y. / 5-0 / 5-0)
--- Exhibition
10.
Will Hyer (Sr / Bridgehampton, N.Y. / 4-0 / 7-0)
How to Follow
• A live video stream of both matches will be available (subscription based) with
links found on the Navy Athletics website
Weekly Rewind
• Navy was dealt its first blemish of the season last Wednesday following a 9-0 loss at home to No. 7 Virginia.
• The evening began with a short dedication ceremony recognizing Paul and Joanne Prager for their generous gift to help renovate the Navy squash facilities. The Prager Family Squash Facility features the newly-built one-of-a-kind, all-glass doubles court, while other enhancements include modernized locker rooms, a team study room and fan viewing areas. Additionally, technology throughout the facility has been updated to include permanent scoreboards and live streaming capabilities throughout the courts.
• Navy, however, bounced back by earning sweeps against Fordham (9-0), Boston U. (7-0), Haverford (9-0) and Denison (9-0) last weekend in Annapolis.
• Nine of Navy's 10 players saw action on the weekend with
Millen Randell,
Ryan York,
Matt Wang,
Ben Korn,
Gus Prager,
Lucas Spiro and
Will Hyer seeing action in all four matches.
• Among the 36 individual matches played over the weekend, Navy surrendered just a single game - Haverford's Quinton Ayres Crawford won game four (11-7) in a 3-1 loss to Navy's
Millen Randell at the No. 1 position.
• Seniors
Ben Korn and
Ryan York reached the 30-win milestone for their careers last weekend. Korn, who stands 32-20, claimed his 30th victory on Saturday with an 11-6, 11-2, 11-8 triumph over Boston U.'s Martin Brnak. Meanwhile, York, the Mids' team captain, secured his 30th win in the weekend finale with a sweep over Denison's Lucas Piller, 11-2, 11-0, 11-6.
More On Penn
• Coached by Gilly Lane, Penn enters the weekend with a 4-0 record after opening the season a week ago with 9-0 sweeps against Chatham, No. 5 Drexel, Dickinson and No. 15 Franklin & Marshall. The Quakers dropped just seven games in 36 matches over the weekend.
• Andrew Douglas and Aly Abou Eleinen each won both of their matches out of the #1 spot without dropping a single game.
• Penn will get four matches in over the weekend, kicking it off on Friday evening against No. 8 Virginia. In addition to seeing action on Saturday against No. 22 Navy, the Quakers will play No. 14 Williams later in the day. They close out the weekend with a Sunday morning match against No. 23 Bates.
The Series
• Penn holds a 50-27 advantage in the series that began on Feb. 19, 1949 with an 8-1 Navy victory in Philadelphia.
• The Mids won the first 15 matches in the series before the Quakers captured their first win in the series (6-3 in Philadelphia) on Feb. 13, 1963.
• Penn has won 19-consecutive matches against Navy, a streak that dates back to Feb. 24, 2001, with an 8-1 victory at the NISRA Championship.
• Navy's last win in the series was on Jan. 17, 2001, a 6-3 decision in Philly.
More On Amherst
• No. 17 Amherst will open its season on Saturday morning with a 9:00 am contest against Dickinson College before facing the Mids at 3:00 pm.
• Hired in the summer of 2020, Busani Xaba was forced to wait a year before leading Amherst into competition after the pandemic
• Amherst did not compete in 2020-21 and saw its last competition as a team on March 1, 2020 where it defeated Tufts 5-4 at the College Squash Association Team Championship. The Mammoths finished the season 9-10, including 8-1 at home.
The Series
• Navy owns a 34-7 advantage in the series that began on Dec. 15, 1950 with a 6-3 Navy victory at Amherst.
• Navy won 15 in a row before the Mammoths' snapped teh streak on Dec. 5, 1970, by edging the Mids 5-4 at Amherst.
• The Mids have won each of the last five contests, including a 9-0 decision on Jan. 20, 2018, the last meeting between the two programs.
What's Ahead
• Navy will take a brief break away from competition to celebrate Thanksgiving before returning to the courts on Dec. 3 with a neutral site match against MIT in Charlottesville, Va.
### Go Navy ###
