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However, after finishing Ivy League competition 7-0 and claiming the title for only the third time in school history, the team had high hopes for the College Squash Association National Championships in Boston this weekend.
While facing Trinity again in the Howe Cup Semifinal on Saturday, the Red and Blue were unable to reverse their fortunes, falling 5-4 in heartbreaking fashion that was strangely reminiscent of their previous loss to the Bantams.
It was an action-packed weekend on the road for Penn squash, as the women swept Yale and Brown while the men split against the two schools.
The No 2 women's squad beat No.
While most students take the upcoming winter break to recover from finals and spend time with friends and family, Penn squash will be taking no days off as they continue to prepare for the tough Ivy slate ahead.
The Quakers will be thrust into new environments and pitted against tough competition on their road to the Ivy League opener at the Ringe Squash Courts, including a trip across the pond..
“The boys are looking forward to the England trip,” Assistant coach Gilly Lane said.
Lange was a four-time first-team All-American and three-time College Squash Association Individual Championship runner-up. But Lange’s ascent while playing on the Women’s International Squash Players Tour circuit has been substantial.
This weekend, six players from the women’s team and two players from the men’s team will head to the College Squash Association Individual Championships.
Playing a highly competitive schedule featuring virtually all of the nation’s best squads, the Penn women’s squash team has lost to just three teams this season—and they will likely need to beat all three of them this weekend in order to bring home a national title.
The reward for competing as the squad’s No. 1 is occasionally bittersweet, as Mattsson and Ariffin have often sacrificed their individual records for the benefit of their teams.
The men’s squash team beat Brown, 7-2, Saturday, and fell to Yale, 8-1. In the meantime, the women’s squad beat both Brown and Stanford Saturday, 7-2 and 6-3, respectively, and lost to Yale, 5-4, Sunday.
Madeleine and the No. 6 Stanford women’s squash team will compete against Leslie and the No. 3 Penn squad, reuniting a pair of twins who opted to wear different uniforms and compete on opposite coasts.
Thursday, Penn faces another challenge when No. 17 Franklin & Marshall visits Ringe Courts for a midweek tilt in a match in which the Quakers will look to build confidence.
No. 1 Harvard denied the No. 3 Quakers’ upset bid Saturday in Boston, winning 7-2. On Sunday, Penn regrouped and returned to its winning ways, sweeping No. 8 Dartmouth, 9-0.
Currently seeded 5th in the nation, the women’s squash team will compete against all nine of the other top 10 teams, and every opponent on its schedule ranks in the top 20.
Ever since she picked up a squash racket at the age of ten, Penn sophomore Nabilla Ariffin has done whatever it takes to win, even if it meant cutting a few corners.