SEASON PREVIEW: M. Squash aims to finish higher

Most collegiate teams would be thrilled to be eighth in the country. But not if eighth in the country includes a 6-8 overall record and a 3-3 record in the Ivy League. That was the story of the 1992-93 Penn men's squash team. But, with a clean slate and an abundance of youth the 1993-94 team is out for sweet, sweet revenge. There are currently only 42 schools in the National Intercollegiate Squash Racquets Association. Traditionally, the Quakers are near the top along with the rest of the Ivy League. Harvard and Princeton are perennial powerhouses in this sport completely dominated by the Ivies. "Last year we had sort of a horrendous finish, I'm afraid," Quaker coach Ned Edwards said. "Eighth is bad for us. Generally, we're in the top five. So, we kind of want to work together so we get back up there." The Quakers have lost five significant players to graduation and only return one seasoned veteran – junior co-captain and second team all-American Steve Scharff. However, with an extremely large and talented group of freshman, who weren't around for last year's disappointment, Penn looks to improve significantly. "Last year we had to deal with some inter-team controversy," Scharff said. "We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores who are really good guys, and things are coming together better this year which is a good sign." "I think that we will be a lot better this year," Edwards said. "We don't have a great deal of experience, but we have a better group of athletes, a hungrier group of athletes. We are very young with only one senior. It's not a seasoned team, but I think we'll do okay." This 1993-94 campaign will be the last played under the American hardball version. Women's collegiate squash and high school squash, as well as some men's collegiate tournaments, are played under the International softball version. All the Penn freshmen must now make the transition to hardball, only to return to softball next year. Considering that two of the freshman, Juan Dominguez (junior champion of Spain) and Summeet Bhullar, will probably break the top five in the Quaker rotation, it is difficult to predict how the Quakers will finish this year. "I'm looking forward to switching over," Edwards said. "It's a shame that we're hanging on to this hardball stuff. It's frustrating. Last year I think that the team played scared a lot of the time. They lacked a bit of confidence and now I hope that they are kind of angry. And that anger will drive them and sweep away all doubts. I hope that last year was enough of a shock and a upset that they'll go after it this year." There are some questions if such a young team will feel overwhelmed being thrown into important matches right away. But Edwards and the rest of the team does not see that as a potential problem. "I think [the Quakers] are good enough to win the matches if they are excited about the challenge rather than scared of the challenge," Edwards said. "It's a possibility that [the freshmen] might feel overwhelmed, but I don't think so," Scharff said. "We have two freshmen [Bhullar and Dominguez] who are both top leaders and they experienced competition close to the college level, if not the real thing. We should be alright. Almost half of the lineup are sophomores, who should be tougher with another year of experience." The Quakers hope for a great deal of improvement from last season, but they still are realistic. "Our goal is to make sure that we finish fourth in the country behind Harvard, Princeton and Yale," Edwards said. "Yale's team is quite experienced. With as many freshmen and and sophomores that we have in the lineup, I don't think we're going to beat them. If we were playing softball my goal would be higher, so it will be exciting next year when we switch." To finish in the top four Penn will have to rely on Scharff. The Quakers' No. 1 player, already a second team all-American, went through off-season conditioning that should have him ready to become one of the nation's best. "As a junior and co-captain naturally I'm going to be looking to lead the team," Scharff said. "Personally, I would like to win all my matches and one individual goal is to beat Adrian Ezra of Harvard. He was the intercollegiate champion for two of the last three years." · The Quakers have their first matches this weekend in Cornell, where they play the Big Red as well as Western Ontario. Two weeks ago, Penn had a scrimmage versus Navy, Princeton, Harvard and Franklin & Marshall. They defeated the Midshipmen (9-0) and Diplomats (5-4), but lost to the Crimson and Tigers by identical 7-2 scores. Dominguez showed how promising the future is for the Quakers as he won all four of his matches. So one thing is for sure – the Quakers won't settle for being eighth-best this year.