Ranked 27th and seeded second, the Navy squash team (15-18) earned a 7-1 victory over seventh-seeded Denison (7-9) Friday evening in the quarterfinals of the Conroy Cup (teams 25-34) at the 2023 Collegiate Squash Association (CSA) National Collegiate Team Championship held at Wesleyan College.

The Midshipmen won the first five matches to secure the win and will advance to Saturday's semifinals against third-seeded Dickinson (5-14), who recorded a 9-0 victory over Connecticut College in the quarterfinals.

Navy's first wave of players gave the Mids an early 3-0 lead, as Henry Sparkman (Jr / Darien, Conn.), Alexander Orr (Fr / Haverford, Pa.) and Ben Balser (Sr / Brooklyn, N.Y.) all earned 3-0 victories over their respective opponents. Sparkman captured his 20th win of the season behind an 11-7, 11-6, 11-8 win over Ibrahim Bekhiet at #3, while improving to 4-0 all-time at the CSA Team Championship. Orr, meanwhile, earned his team-best 21st victory of 2022-23 via his 11-2, 11-2, 11-2 win over Joao Victor Barbosa Gomes at #6 in what was his championship debut. Balser scored his first-career postseason victory by way of an 11-1, 11-4, 11-2 win against Suryansh Agrawal at #7.

Navy tacked on two more wins by Tommy Rankin (Sr / Atlanta, Ga.) and Shankar Jambunathan (So / Aurora, Ill.) to clinch the team victory. Rankin picked up an 11-2, 11-4, 11-2 win against Rayan Dar at #5 and has now won four-consecutive matches at the CSA Team Championship dating back to last year. Jambunathan, meanwhile, claimed an 11-6, 11-6, 11-9 victory over James Maher at #8 in what was his first-career appearance at the championship.

Denison briefly interrupted the Navy run by posting its lone victory of the match, a 3-0 win by Juan Felipe Hernandez at the #1 position over the Mids' Matt Wang (So / Malvern, Pa.).

Though the match had been decided, Lucas Spiro (So / Buffalo, N.Y.) and team captain Millen Randell (Sr / Chicago, Ill.) put the exclamation point on the victory with wins of their own at #4 and #2, respectively. Spiro pushed his season record over .500 behind an 11-9, 11-5, 12-10 win over Lucas Piller, while Randell bounced back after a game one loss (11-9) to defeat Tarun Mammen 11-5, 11-7, 11-6 over the final three games. Randell is now just one win shy of the 20-win mark for the season.

The Mids, who split their two matches against Dickinson during the season (W, 8-1 on Nov. 16, 2022 / L, 5-4 on Feb. 5, 2023 at MASC Championship), will face the Devils on Saturday at 11:00 am. The winners of the Navy vs. Dickinson and Bowdoin vs. Wesleyan semifinal matches will meet in Sunday's championship match at 8:30 am.


Navy 7, Denison 1
CSA Team Championship • Quarterfinals
1 | Juan Felipe Hernandez (D) def  Matt Wang (N) // 11-4, 11-8, 11-5
2 | Millen Randell (N) def Tarun Mammen (D) // 9-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-6
3 | Henry Sparkman (N) def Ibrahim Bekhiet (D) // 11-7, 11-6, 11-8
4 | Lucas Spiro (N) def Lucas Piller (D) // 11-9, 11-5, 12-10
5 | Tommy Rankin (N) def Rayan Dar (D) // 11-2, 11-4, 11-2
6 | Alexander Orr (N) def Joao Victor Barbosa Gomes (D) // 11-2, 11-2, 11-2
7 | Ben Balser (N) def Suryansh Agrawal (D) // 11-1, 11-4, 11-1
8 | Shankar Jambunathan (N) def James Maher (D) // 11-6, 11-6, 11-9
9 | Default (V) def Default (N) // ----

Conroy Cup Schedule
Venue: All Conroy Cup matches played at Wesleyan (Middletown, Conn.), except the Championship played at Trinity (Hartford, Conn.)
How to follow: Live scoring and streaming links available on Navy Athletics website (NavySports.com); only the Championship will be streamed

Friday
Round of 16
1:00 pm | (8) Fordham def. (9) Vassar, 7-2
1:00 pm | (7) Denison def. (10) Bard, 8-0

Quarterfinals
3:00 pm | (4) Wesleyan def. (5) Haverford, 9-0
3:00 pm | (3) Dickinson def. (6) Connecticut College, 9-0
5:00 pm | (1) Bowdoin def. (8) Fordham, 9-0
5:00 pm | (2) Navy def. (7) Denison, 7-1

Saturday
9:00 am | (5) Haverford vs. (9) Vassar
9:00 am | (6) Connecticut College vs. (10) Bard

Semifinals
11:00 am | (1) Bowdoin vs. (4) Wesleyan
11:00 am | (3) Dickinson vs. (2) Navy

4:00 am | Consolation Semifinals (2 matches)
6:00 pm | 9th/10th-Place Match

Sunday
8:30 am | 1st/2nd-Place Match
8:30 am | 7th/8th-Place Match
10:00 am | 5th/6th-Place Match
11:30 am | 3rd/4th-Place Match

### Go Navy ###