Penn squash earns weekend Ivy split

Penn men's and women's squash were on the road this weekend facing a doubleheader against Dartmouth and Harvard. These matches were a quick turnaround after both squads suffered crushing losses to Princeton on Wednesday. 

Fortunately for the Quakers though, the losses to the Tigers didn’t hamper their performances on Saturday against Dartmouth. Both the men's and the women's teams defeated the Big Green; the men with a close 5-4 victory, and women’s with a more comfortable 6-3 win. 

According to men's coach Gilly Lane, the men’s standout players, freshman Andrew Douglas and sophomore David Yacobucci had some crucial wins after suffering losses to Princeton on Wednesday. 

Douglas led his team this weekend with two nail-biting five-set matches against No. 5 Dartmouth and No. 3 Harvard, cutting it close in the last set against Dartmouth’s Alvin Heumann with the final score of 11-8. These wins add to his record of 10-3 overall, the most victories on the team. 

“Every time you go out, you want to win,” Douglas said. “Dartmouth, we had to win.” 

On the women's side, junior Reeham Sedky impressed again this weekend with two more wins against No. 11 Dartmouth and No. 2 Harvard to add to her perfect record of 11-0. Most notably, Sedky swept longtime rival and Harvard's top player, Sabrina Sohby.

Despite the success on Saturday, the following matches against Harvard were a different story. 

Both the men and women suffered defeat against the Crimson. The men lost a heartbreaker, 5-4, while the women were dominated, 8-1. 

Lane commented that although the team had suffered some losses, there is still plenty left for the team to accomplish this year.

“We're not out of the league by any means, we still have everything to play for, you know, fighting each day to stay in it," he said.

With the long weekend for the Quakers out of the way, they can turn their attention to this weekend's opponents, Cornell and Columbia, as they wrap up Ivy play.