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George Wins an Unprecedented Fourth-Straight Barb Tournament
Oct. 19, 2007
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Senior Tucker George (West Hartford, Conn.) came back from a two-games-to-none deficit to defeat sophomore teammate Nils Mattsson (Spring House, Pa.) in five games and become Navy's first four-time winner of the USS Barb Squash Racquets Perpetual Trophy. Established in 1958 by the late Admiral Eugene Fluckey, a Medal of Honor recipient, the Barb has been won by 34 different midshipmen. Twelve men have claimed ownership of the trophy multiple times with only four players winning it three times. "It's a huge honor to win this tournament for a fourth year," said George, who was quick to point out that this year's tournament was especially important, playing in the memory of Adm. Fluckey who recently passed away. "This tournament has been going on for a long time, so to become the first four-time winner is an honor and there is also a bit of luck. I've trained really hard and I'm excited to have won it." The fans were treated to a spirited and animated match between George and Mattsson. Mattsson, who won the Molloy Division of the 2007 College Squash Association Individual Championship, took the early advantage with back-to-back wins over George, 9-4 and 9-5. George, however, turned the tables on Mattsson in the third, easily taking the game, 9-1. "When I was down after the first two matches, I thought I was done," added George, who has played Mattsson two years in a row for the Barb title. "I was thinking of all the people I'd let down if I lost the match. All of the people who have supported me and who have helped me reach this level. "It was gut check time. It was one of those 'fight for your life' matches where the tension was so thick you could feel it all around." Following his game three win, George came back to take a 5-0 lead in game four. On the ensuing service, Mattsson tapped the ball into the left corner of the court when he collided with George. George was attempting to make his way around Mattsson to play the ball, but he lunged forward and made contact with the small of Mattsson's back, sending him sprawling to the floor.
After a near half-hour delay, Mattsson courageously made his way back to the court to finish out the game. Unnerved by the delay and tension from Mattsson's injury, George kept his focus and forced a fifth match by way of a 9-4 game four victory. "I felt like the pressure was on me to stay focused," said George. "I tried to view the delay as a normal break between games. I decided to go back out on the court and hit the ball around to keep my focus." As in the previous two games, George jumped out to a quick lead and Mattsson was down 6-0 before he knew what hit him. Fighting for every possession, Mattsson was unable to upset his opponent and George claimed the match with a 9-2 win in the fifth. "Nils is a tremendous opponent," said George. "I think he's probably the toughest opponent mentally that I have faced. I'm not sure I've played against another opponent who has played as hard and wanted it as much as I did. I have a great deal of respect for Nils." In other tournament action, senior captain Jeff Sawin (Haverford, Pa.) came back after losing his opening game to defeat rookie Allan Lutz (McLean, Va.), 1-9, 9-4, 9-3, 10-8 in the 3-4 match. Second-year standout Ben Mantica (Binghamton, N.Y.) swept junior Michael John Beautyman Jr (Plymouth Meeting, Pa.) in the 4-5 match, as did freshman Brad Seidel (Toledo, Ohio) who claimed a 9-7, 10-8, 9-4 victory over junior Christopher Zipf (Gladwyne, Pa.) to earn the No. 7 spot on the ladder. The 9-10 and 11-12 matches were both decided in five games. Junior Allen Hartley (Charleston, W.Va.) took a 2-0 advantage in his match against senior Brian Hamilton (Lake Forest, Ill.), but was forced to a fifth game after Hamilton claimed games three (9-1) and four (9-0). Hartley outlasted Hamilton in game five, taking the match, 10-8. The youngest brother in the George household, Teddy (West Hartford, Conn.), claimed a 3-2 decision over senior Matt Wiggins (Sour Lake, Texas). George won the first game before Wiggins took a 2-1 advantage with 9-3 and 9-5 wins over the next two matches. George, however, evened the match with a 9-5 win in the fourth and went on to take the match with a 9-3 win in the fifth. The week-long competition pits the Navy squash players against one another in a round robin competition which then sets up an elimination tournament. The tournament results determine Navy's starting lineup to begin the season which is slated to officially begin next Friday when it travel to Northwestern. Navy battles the host Wildcats on Friday at 6:30 pm and will face Denison on Saturday at 10:00 am and Western Ontario at 4:00 pm. 2007-08 Navy Squash Ladder
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