The 17th-ranked Middlebury men's squash team has earned the fifth seed in the Hoehn Cup (B draw) at the upcoming Collegiate Squash Association (CSA) Divisional Team Championships. The squad meets #16/fourth-seeded Navy on Friday at 6:00 p.m. in the quarterfinal round. The three-day championship is being contested at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia.
 
ABOUT MIDDLEBURY

• Middlebury enters the championship at 9-8 with six wins over ranked opponents. 
• The Panthers secured their 18th berth at the team championships and appear in the Hoehn Cup for the sixth time.
• Middlebury seeks its initial Hoehn Cup Championship. The program's highest finish came in back-to-back 14th-place showings in 2011 and 2012.
• In last year's edition, the navy and white upended the University of Rochester (5-4) in the quarterfinals before falling to Franklin and Marshall (6-3) and conference rival Colby (5-4).

PANTHERS TO WATCH

• Gabe Feinstein has been at the top of the ladder for the majority of the campaign, playing in 12 matches. 
• In the second slot, David Zhao sits with five triumphs. Aditya Kothari comes into the weekend with a 10-7 mark, including four wins at #3.
• Filling out the middle of the lineup is the trio of Kian Kardenstuncer, Caleb Boateng and Theo Kogan. Kardenstuncer has earned three of his nine victories in the fourth slot, while Boateng is 8-2 at #5 and sports a team-best four-match winning streak. Kogan is one of four Panthers with double-digit triumphs (11), with seven secured at #6.
• Nico Brown has excelled in his rookie campaign, earning seven wins in the seventh position. His 13 total triumphs are tied with Boateng for the team lead.
• The duo of Naum Lekovic and Charlie Clifford rounds out the ladder. Lekovic is 9-7 on the year, while Clifford has three of his five wins in the ninth position.

ABOUT NAVY

• Navy enters the weekend with a 22-5 mark and victories in five of its last seven matches.
• The Midshipmen come off a fifth-place showing at the Mid-Atlantic Squash Conference Championship. Their lone win came in an 8-1 decision over then-#25 Dickinson.
• Navy earned a spot in the Hoehn Cup last season, falling to top-seeded Western Ontario and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) by identical 7-2 decisions.

MIDSHIPMEN TO WATCH

• Wenqing Tang has excelled at the top of the ladder, posting a perfect 24-0 mark. He is two wins away from 50 in his career.
• Locking down the #2 and #3 slots are Christian Graziano and Alexander Orr. The pair has a combined mark of 27-10.
• Johan Hodgson sports an 11-3 record in the fourth spot and Matthew Kang has six of his 15 wins at #5.
• Michael Tierney and Avinash Uppuluri have seen action in the sixth and seventh positions. Tierney has won five of six opportunities at #6, while Uppuluri is a perfect 6-0 at #7. 
• Multiple players have appeared in the eighth and ninth slots, including Ramsay Killinger (18-5) and Hudson Poirier (9-0).

SERIES HISTORY

• The Panthers and Midshipmen meet for the second time this season and 17th in the all-time series. Navy squeaked out a 5-4 decision in Vermont on January 9.
• The sides have met three times at the CSA Team Championships, with the Midshipmen winning two of those battles. Middlebury grabbed the most recent matchup with a 5-4 victory in the 2020 Summers Cup Semifinals.

ABOUT THE BRACKET

• The Hoehn Cup is the "B" bracket of the CSA Division Team Championships, featuring teams nationally ranked #13 through #20 in the final poll.
• Middlebury squared off this winter against four of the seven teams that are competing in this year's bracket.
• The other programs competing are #13 MIT, #14 Amherst, #15 Colby, #18 Western Ontario, #19 Franklin and Marshall and #20 University of Rochester.

CHAMPIONSHIP INFORMATION

• Location: Philadelphia, Pa.
• Venue: Arlen Specter US Squash Center
• CSA Championship Page