Virginia Sweeps Navy, 9-0

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia men’s squash team (2-0) closed out its opening weekend with a 9-0 victory against Navy (0-2) on Sunday (Feb. 28) at the McArthur Squash Center.

Freshman Myles McIntire (Andover, Mass.) moved up to the top of the ladder after winning his match at No. 2 yesterday. He made the most of the opportunity defeating  Jack Lentz 11-7, 11-8, 3-11, 11-5.

Sophomores Cullen Little (Baltimore, Md.), Tyler Mackesy (Bronxville, N.Y.) and Teddy Durfee (Bedford, N.Y.) each picked up their first wins of the year, playing at two, three and four, respectively. Little battled Ryan York for five games, coming out with an 11-6, 11-13, 10-12, 11-8, 11-9 win. Mackesy and Durfee both won in four games, with Mackesy topping Millen Randell 11-7, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6 and Durfee downing Charles Heath 11-6, 14-12, 3-11, 11-7.

Freshmen Andrew Barr (Beverly Hills, Mich.) and Maxwell Velazquez (Brooklyn, N.Y.) joined McIntire in beginning their careers at 2-0 with Barr defeating Ben Korn 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 11-4 at position five and Velazquez topping Joe Kacergis 11-5, 11-9, 11-9 at the bottom of the ladder.

Seniors Andrew Braff (Locust Valley, N.Y.), Matthew Katz (Baltimore, Md.) and William Braff (Locust Valley, N.Y.) rounded out the lower half of the line-up, each winning their matches at positions six through eight in three games.

MATCH NOTES

• Virginia only had seven players available for Saturday’s match but fielded all nine ladder positions today
• Virginia improves to 3-1 all-time against Navy
• This weekend’s contests were the first collegiate squash match played since the 2020 National Individual Collegiate Championships which ended on March 8
• In December, the College Squash Association (CSA) Board of Directors voted to cancel the 2021 CSA national championship events. This cancellation includes the Women’s Team Championships, the Men’s Team Championships, and the Individual Championships for the current season. The championships will return in February of 2022

FROM HEAD COACH MARK ALLEN

“Well, that was a lot of fun. And sharing that joy with all of the players, our own and Navy’s, as well as parents, was a true privilege. Our practices and training have been going well but, like everyone, we have experienced our share of disruptions. So it was more difficult than usual to be sure of where the team was both physically and mentally coming into the weekend’s matches. However, all our guys were ready to compete on Saturday, and everyone came out fast and focused from the first rally. That is an achievement in and of itself when the last competitive match any of us played was over twelve months ago.

“The weekend featured great debuts for our first years. So major credit to Drew Barr, Myles McIntyre, and Max Velazquez for going a combined 6-0 in their first outings as Cavaliers. Max looked calm and comfortable despite the lack of preparation time he had for his starts. Drew showed great composure, particularly on Saturday, when he closed out his match with a nail biting 21-19 tie-break win in the fourth. Last but not least, I was extremely impressed with Myles’ performance at #1 today. His opponent, Jack Lentz, is a tremendous player and very experienced. So that was a very high-quality win there.

“The men are going to take a short training break for a few days and then we will get back to hard work and preparation for the matches against George Washington. Having them on the schedule a month from now gives us another tangible and meaningful goal to work toward. After the experience today, I know we are all looking forward to another weekend of competition.”

ON THE HORIZON

• Future contests and opponents will be announced at a later date

Virginia 9, Navy 0

1 | Myles McIntyre (UVA) def. Jack Lentz (NAVY) 11-7, 11-8, 3-11, 11-5

2 | Cullen Little (UVA) def. Ryan York (NAVY) 11-6, 11-13, 10-12, 11-8, 11-9

3 | Tyler Mackesy (UVA) def. Millen Randell (NAVY) 11-7, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6

4 | Teddy Durfee (UVA) def. Charles Heath (NAVY) 11-6, 14-12, 3-11, 11-7

5 | Andrew Barr (UVA) def. Ben Korn (NAVY) 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 11-4

6 | Andrew Braff (UVA) def. Henry Sparkman (NAVY) 13-11, 11-6, 12-10

7 | Matthew Katz (UVA) def. Gus Prager (NAVY) 11-9, 11-7, 11-9

8 | William Braff (UVA) def. Tommy Rankin (NAVY) 11-8, 11-6, 11-4

9 | Maxwell Velazquez (UVA) def. Joe Kacergis (NAVY) 11-5, 11-9, 11-9