The 27th-ranked and second-seeded Navy squash team (15-19) dropped a 5-4 decision to third-seeded Dickinson (6-14) Saturday afternoon in semifinals of the Conroy Cup (teams 25-34) at the 2023 Collegiate Squash Association (CSA) National Collegiate Team Championship. Dickinson's Mark Naguib won a 3-1 decision over Navy's Henry Sparkman (Jr / Darien, Conn.) in the final match to clinch the victory for the Devils.

Navy began the match down 1-0 having to default in its #9 position due to injury, as it has every match since since the beginning of December. The Mids, however, won two in a row to take a 2-1 lead. Tommy Rankin (Sr / Atlanta, Ga.) won his fifth-consecutive match at the CSA Team Championship dating back to last season by taking down Patrick Noonan in 3 games. Meanwhile, Ben Balser (Sr / Brooklyn, N.Y.) won willed his way to a 3-2 victory over Samuel Knipp. Balser earned a 12-10 victory in the first game, however, Knipp came roaring back to win games 2 (11-5) and 3 (11-9). The Navy senior leveled the match at 2 apiece with an 11-6 win in the fourth before edging Knipp in the fifth 13-11. Balser is now 2-for-2 in this year's tournament.

Dickinson tied it when Omar Ali won a marathon match against Navy's #1 Matt Wang (So / Malvern, Pa.) 9-11, 11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 11-5. The Devils pushed ahead in the match 3-2 behind a Jack Corkum sweep at #9 against the Mids' Shankar Jambunathan (So / Aurora, Ill.) 11-3, 11-3, 11-0.

Navy answered with a 3-2 victory at #4 by Lucas Spiro (So / Buffalo, N.Y.) over Kobe Fleming in one of the day's best matches. The two athletes exchanged wins with Fleming winning extended games in the second (15-13) and fourth (16-14), but it was Spiro who captured the win with an 11-9 victory in the fifth. Spiro has won both of his matches this weekend and stands 4-1 in the championship over the last two seasons.

Once again, Dickinson matched the Mids' win with one of its own as Joe Smythe outlasted Navy team captain Millen Randell (Sr / Chicago, Ill.) in a five-gamer at the #2 position. Like the Spiro-Fleming match, the two players alternated wins with Smythe taking the deciding game 11-5.

For a final time in the match, Navy leveled the scored at 4-4 with Alexander Orr (Fr / Haverford, Pa.) earning his 22nd win of the season. Orr dropped the opening game at #6 against Hussien Eldesouky 11-7, but rallied to take the next 3 games (11-6, 11-8, 11-6) to earn the victory.

The match came down to the final bout of the day, as Naguib and Sparkman would meet for the second time this year. Sparkman defeated Naguib by a 3-1 count at the Mid-Atlantic Squash Conference Championship just a handful of weeks ago, but it would be Naguib that would best Sparkman in Saturday's semifinals. Naguib took the first-two games 11-8 and 12-10 before Sparkman momentarily stopped his foe in the third, 11-3. Naguib, however, sealed the Dickinson victory by taking the fourth game against Sparkman 11-8.

The Mids will face the host Wesleyan Cardinals (7-11) Sunday at 11:30 am in the third-place match. Fourth-seeded Wesleyan defeated Haverford 9-0 in the quarterfinals, but were tripped up by top-seeded Bowdoin 8-1 in the semifinals.


Dickinson 5, Navy 4
CSA Team Championship • Semifinals
1 | Omar Ali (D) def  Matt Wang (N) // 9-11, 11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 11-5
2 | Joe Smythe (D) def Millen Randell (N) // 11-5, 9-11, 11-5, 12-14, 11-5
3 | Mark Naguib (D) def Henry Sparkman (N) // 11-8, 12-10, 3-11, 11-8
4 | Lucas Spiro (N) def Kobe Fleming (D) // 11-9, 13-15, 11-4, 14-16, 11-9
5 | Tommy Rankin (N) def Patrick Noonan (D) // 11-8, 11-8, 11-5
6 | Alexander Orr (N) def Hussien Eldesouky (D) // 7-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-6
7 | Ben Balser (N) def Samuel Knipp (D) // 12-10, 5-11, 9-11, 11-6, 13-11
8 | Jack Corkum (D) def Shankar Jambunathan (N) // 11-3, 11-3, 11-0
9 | Bradley Hennessy (D) 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 links available on Navy Athletics website (NavySports.com); only the Championship will be streamed

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

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

Saturday
(5) Haverford def. (9) Vassar, 9-0
(6) Connecticut College def. (10) Bard, 8-0

Semifinals
(1) Bowdoin def. (4) Wesleyan, 8-1
(3) Dickinson def. (2) Navy, 5-4

(5) Haverford def. (8) Fordham, 9-0
(6) Connecticut College def. (7) Denison, 6-3
9th-Place Match / (9) Vassar def. (10) Bard, 7-1

Sunday
8:30 am | 1st-Place Match / (1) Bowdoin vs. (3) Dickinson
8:30 am | 7th-Place Match / (8) Fordham vs. (7) Denison
10:00 am | 5th-Place Match / (5) Haverford vs. (6) Connecticut College
11:30 am | 3rd-Place Match / (4) Wesleyan vs. (2) Navy

### Go Navy ###