The #17/fifth-seeded Middlebury men's squash team went toe-to-toe with #16/fourth-seeded Navy in the quarterfinals of the Hoehn Cup on Friday at the College Squash Association (CSA) Divisional Team Championships. The Midshipmen edged the Panthers by a 5-4 margin from the Arlen Specter U.S. Squash Center in Philadelphia.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Navy earned a sweep at #2 before Charlie Clifford countered with a four-game triumph (7-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-7) in the eighth position to knot the match at 1-1.
• Caleb Boateng and Naum Lekovic continued to ride the wave of Panther momentum. Boateng slipped past Matthew Kang by scores of 12-10, 8-11, 11-6 and 11-6 in the fifth spot. Lekovic worked hard in his match at #9 against Ramsay Killinger, pulling out a 3-0 victory (12-10, 16-14, 12-10) to put Middlebury ahead by a 3-1 score.
• The Midshipmen battled back, grabbing consecutive five-game marathons at #3 and #4 to level the tally at three.
• At the top spot of the ladder, Wenqing Tang put Navy on the doorstep with his four-game win over Gabe Feinstein (12-10, 4-11, 14-12, 11-7).
• Nico Brown kept the Panthers in contention at #7. After dropping the first two games, he roared back with 11-2 and 15-13 decisions to push the match to a fifth game. The rookie continued his positive surge, grabbing an 11-5 win to seal the marathon and tie the contest at four.
• The decisive match paired Theo Kogan against Andrew Ko in the sixth slot. Kogan secured an 11-6 victory in the opener, but Ko matched with three game triumphs in a row to seal the battle and match (6-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-3).

NOTES

• Lekovic tallied his 10th victory as a Panther.
• Boateng pushed his winning streak to five-straight matches.
• The programs met for the fourth time at the CSA Team Championships.

Middlebury returns to action in the consolation bracket, meeting #20/eighth-seeded University of Rochester on Saturday at 6:00 p.m.