M. Squash begins with league win

Ernie Banks probably would have been proud with the achievements of the Penn men's squash team on Saturday. The Quakers traveled all the way to the beautiful city of Ithaca, N.Y. to "play two" against the Big Red and Western Ontario. Although it probably wasn't a very scenic or warm trip, Penn made it back alive. The Quakers (1-0 Ivy League, 1-1 overall) dominated its early match 8-1 against the Big Red and continued Penn's overpowering of Ivy opponents. However, in Penn's afternoon match, the Quakers lost (9-0) to a Western Ontario team undoubtedly inspired over the Blue Jays' back-to-back World Series victories over the Americans, eh. But the bagel thrown by these Canadiens does not tell the true story, as the Quakers were valiant in defeat. "The Ivies are the matches that we are trying to pay attention to," Penn coach Ned Edwards said. "[Losing 9-0] sounds horrendous, but a lot of the matches were pretty damn good. [Western Ontario] is a really good team and I think the guys were really pleased with the way they competed for the most part. It really wasn't a letdown, we played well in the morning and even better in the afternoon." "We were disappointed that we lost, but at the same time, a bunch of us played really well," junior co-captain Steve Scharff said. "Western Ontario is one of the top teams, and we were really pleased with our victory over Cornell. The guys did well. It's nice to dominate a team like that." The Quakers had to play the weekend without junior Vayu Garware, who would have occupied the three slot for Penn. Garware turned his ankle the day before the matches and his status is unknown. So, for this predominantly young team, it was up to the freshmen to turn it up a notch. First-year phenoms Juan Dominguez and Sumeet Bhullar played admirably, although Bhullar suffered Penn's only loss against Cornell. "Domniguez was fairly confident that he would win his afternoon match and he lost in three," Edwards said. "He was a little disappointed. Juan's a great athlete, but I think he was a little off. Bhullar lost by one point in the fourth game against Cornell. He just couldn't find his accuracy. It's a shame that he lost that last point. He was disappointed for sure, but the match was sort of an up thing, so he's fine about it." "The freshmen played real well for the most part," Scharff said. "Dominguez crushed his guy. It was sort of a learning experience for Bhullar. It wasn't just a defeat for him, hopefully he will learn a lot. Maybe, if he meets that guy later in the year, he will crush him." Scharff, one of the best collegiate squash players in the country, has nothing to prove after Saturday. He handily beat his Cornell opponent and played to his utmost ability in a defeat to Michael Leckie of Western Ontario, one of the top five players in the college ranks. "I did real well," Scharff said. "I was pleased with my win against Cornell and against Western I played some of my best squash ever in a losing effort. Leckie was playing some real good ball. I gave it my best, but he managed to beat me." The future looks bright for this Quaker team, which has the potential to finish as high as fourth in the nation. This weekend's split showed a lot of promise and with a little more experience for the freshmen, Penn might just surprise some teams. "We got a good win under our belts and also got to see some tough competition," Scharff said. "Hopefully, in the future, if we come against [W. Ontario] we will be a little more prepared." "It gives me a feeling that we can do much better in the Ivies and against schools that gave us a tough time last year," Edwards said. "Even though we are 1-1 on the year, it still feels pretty good."