Making its first appearance of the 2023 calendar year, the 25th-ranked Navy squash team (13-7) fell short in its three matches at home this weekend. The Mids dropped a 6-3 decision to undefeated and 23rd-ranked Middlebury (5-0) on Friday, while  #18 Williams (4-4) cruised to an 8-1 victory against the Mids on Saturday. Navy capped the weekend with a 6-3 loss to #19 Amherst (4-2) on Sunday afternoon.

Weekend Highlights
• Navy stepped aside from competition for a month to focus on final exams and observe the holidays. Its last match prior to the break was Dec. 4 at Bowdoin (L, 5-4).
• Navy entered the weekend with just one change in the lineup as team captain Millen Randell (Sr / Chicago, Ill.) and Matt Wang (So / Malvern, Pa.) flip-flopped positions with Wang taking over the No. 1 spot.
• Wang, who improved to 16-2 on the year, showed he belonged at the top, as he was the lone Navy player to win all three matches over the weekend. He opened with a 3-1 victory (11-6, 14-12, 9-11, 11-3) over Middlebury's Nathan Feinstein and rallied from a 2-1 deficit to defeat Williams' Udai Pal in five games (4-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8, 11-3) and post the Mids' lone win against the Ephs. He closed out the weekend by sweeping Amherst's Kedar Nagaraj (11-1, 11-6, 11-8).
• Randell, meanwhile, put together a 2-1 mark over the weekend to improve to 13-5. The veteran member of the lineup earned a stymied Middlebury's Will Lichstein (11-5, 11-8, 11-9) in the opener, but dropped a 3-1 decision (11-9, 4-11, 11-8, 11-2) to Williams' William Evans. Randell bounced back on Sunday to close out the weekend with a 3-0 win (11-9, 11-7, 11-5) over Adam Lichtmacher  of Amherst.
• With the pair of victories, Randell continues to inch towards the 50-win milestone for his career, as he now stands 40-33.
• Henry Sparkman (Jr / Darien, Conn.) and Alexander Orr (Fr / Haverford, Pa.) both went 1-2 on the weekend. Sparkman played a hard-fought match against Middlebury's Caleb Boateng, beating his foe in four games (11-8, 7-11, 11-7, 13-11), while Orr finished off the weekend with a 3-2 victory over Amherst's Grady Herbert (7-11, 12-10, 3-11, 11-8, 11-6).
• Orr came into the weekend with a team-best 15-1 record and rode an 11-match winning streak before Middlebury's PK Keller dealt the rookie a 3-1 loss on Friday evening.

What's Ahead
• The Mids will return to action on Jan. 13 (Friday) when they make the trip to Washington, D.C. to battle #7 Drexel.
• Squash on Fire will serve as the host venue in a match that is slated to begin at 7:00 pm.

Middlebury 6, Navy 3
1 | Matt Wang (N) def Nathan Feinstein (M) // 11-6, 14-12, 9-11, 11-3
2 | Millen Randell (N) def Will Lichstein (M) // 11-5, 11-8, 11-9
3 | Henry Sparkman (N) def Caleb Boateng (M) // 11-8, 7-11, 11-7, 13-11
4 | Kian Kardestuncer (M) def Lucas Spiro (N) // 14-12, 11-1, 11-4
5 | Theo Kogan (M) def Tommy Rankin (N) // 12-10, 8-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-6
6 | PK Keller (M) def Alexander Orr (N) // 10-12, 11-9, 11-7, 13-11
7 | Alexis Ballo (M) def Ben Balser (N) // 11-3, 4-11, 11-3, 11-3
8 | William Quigley (M) def Shankar Jambunathan (N) // 11-1, 11-4, 11-2
9 | Alex Stimpson (M) def Default (N) // Default

Williams 8, Navy 1
1 | Matt Wang (N) def Udai Pal (W) // 4-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8, 11-3
2 | William Evans (W) def Millen Randell (N) // 11-9, 4-11, 11-8, 11-2
3 | Andrew Minnis (W) def Henry Sparkman (N) // 15-17, 11-6, 13-11, 11-4
4 | Jack Lee (W) def Lucas Spiro (N) // 11-7, 8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-6
5 | Asher Leavy (W) def Tommy Rankin (N) // 11-9, 11-3, 11-3
6 | Alex Akbari (W) def Alexander Orr (N) // 11-5, 12-10, 11-1
7 | Jon Nicholson (W) def Ben Balser (N) // 11-5, 11-9, 11-8
8 | Rafay Syed (W) def Shankar Jambunathan (N) // 11-2, 11-3, 11-2
9 | Andrew Lee (W) def Default (N) // Default

Amherst 6, Navy 3
1 | Matt Wang (N) def Kedar Nagaraj (A) // 11-1, 11-6, 11-8
2 | Millen Randell (N) def Adam Lichtmacher (A) // 11-9, 11-7, 11-5
3 | Neal Malani (A) def Henry Sparkman (N) // 11-3, 11-3, 11-6
4 | Robinson Armour (A) def Lucas Spiro (N) // 11-9, 11-4, 11-5
5 | Abhimanyu Gupta (A) def Tommy Rankin (N) // 8-11, 11-7, 5-11, 11-7, 11-9
6 | Alexander Orr (N) def Grady Herbert (A) // 7-11, 12-10, 3-11, 11-8, 11-6
7 | William Okurowski (A) def Ben Balser (N) // 11-8, 11-9, 11-2
8 | Nathaniel Mosse (A) def Shankar Jambunathan (N) // 11-2, 11-3, 11-0
9 | Jesse Brew (A) def Default (N) // Default


### Go Navy ###