University of
Pennsylvania, in the midst of a difficult rebuilding year
after graduating #1 player and team leader Gilly Lane, rebounded
from a mixed November/December as they emphatically repulsed
a threat from the 10th-Ranked Midshipmen, 7-2 at Navy's home
courts in Annapolis, Md.
Back in action after a month lay-off
for final exams and the holidays, the 10th-ranked Navy squash
team dropped a tough 7-2 decision to No. 9 Penn Saturday
afternoon at the Halsey Field House International Squash
Courts. The Quakers have now won six in a row against the
Midshipmen dating back to 2001.
"Today's loss was a tough one," said Navy head
coach Craig Dawson. "We had a great crowd, including
an especially vocal group of Midshipmen which really helped.
We lost a couple of heartbreakers, but we will continue to
work on our game this week and get ready for next week's
matches."
Navy looked to have the early advantage,
winning two of the top three spots on the ladder. Leading
the was senior Tucker George (West Hartford, Conn.), who
came back from a 3-9 loss in the opening game to post 9-5,
9-4 and 9-5 wins to take the match over Penn All-American
Lee Rosen at the No. 1 position. George has won all nine
of his matches this season. Additionally, the Mids received
a strong performance by their captain, senior Jeff Sawin
(Haverford, Pa.), who improved to 8-1 on the year after breezing
his way to a 9-3, 9-7, 9-4 win over senior Spencer Kurn.
The
match could have swung the other direction had Navy been
able to pull out a pair of matches that were decided in five
games and went the Quakers' direction. Navy's No. 2 player
Nils Mattsson (Spring House, Pa.) traded wins with second-year
Penn standout Mark Froot with Mattsson winning the fourth,
9-3, to send the match into a fifth game. But it was Froot
who was able to outlast Mattsson and take the match in the
fifth, 9-5, as Mattsson suffered his first loss of the 2007-08
campaign (9-1).
Meanwhile, Navy sophomore Ben Mantica (Binghamton,
N.Y.) found himself in the same position at the No. 5 flight,
where he won games two and four to force a deciding game
against Penn rookie Porter Drake. Mantica suffered a final
blow when Drake produced a 9-1 victory in the fifth.
The Midshipmen
will be back in action next weekend when they travel to New
Haven, Conn. to play in a three-day round robin at Yale.
Navy will battle Bowdoin on Friday (5:00 pm), MIT (10:00
am) and Bates (4:00 pm) on Saturday and Colby (9:00 am) on
Sunday.
Penn def. Navy, 7-2
Jan. 12, 2008 • Annapolis,
Md.
1 Tucker George (N) def. Lee Rosen (P) 3-1 3-9, 9-5, 9-4,
9-5
2 Mark Froot (P) def. Nils Mattsson (N) 3-2 9-3, 0-9, 9-2,
3-9, 9-5
3 Jeff Sawin (N) def. Spencer Kurn (P) 3-0 9-3, 9-7, 9-4
4 James Clark (P) def. Allan Lutz (N) 3-0 10-8, 9-3, 9-7
5 Porter Drake (P) def. Ben Mantica (N) 3-2 9-4, 3-9, 9-1,
6-9, 9-1
6 Joey Raho (P) def.Christopher Zipf (N) 3-1 9-3, 9-1, 3-9,
9-4
7 Andrew Zimmerman (P) def. Brian Hamilton (N) 3-0 9-3, 9-5,
9-5
8 Spencer Kurn (P) def. Brad Seidel (N) 3-0 9-7, 9-0, 10-8
9 Ryan Rayfield (P) def. Allen Hartley (N) 3-0 9-3, 9-4,
9-5
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