M. Squash crushed by Princeton

The Louisville Cardinals are currently No. 7 in the nation with an 18-2 record in men's basketball. The Pennsylvania Quakers are currently No. 7 in the nation with a 6-6 record in men's squash. No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. Last year the Quakers finished 6-8 and 10th in the country. This year coach Ned Edwards predicted that Penn would finish fourth, below just Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. What went wrong? The Quakers 8-1 loss to Princeton last night culminated a rocky season. One day up, the next day down. Not that a win versus the national powerhouse Tigers was expected, but a more competitive match was definitely possible. "It wasn't too great," Penn sophomore Craig Rappaport said. "I thought we should have done much better. We didn't pull it out and I was personally disappointed in my play." "I feel like the guys in general are playing pretty well," Edwards said. "There are a couple exceptions where guys are not playing up to their ability. I was generally satisfied. They were focused and they competed pretty well, but I would have loved to see a couple more guys sky for it because they could have won their matches." The one Quaker who did rise to the challenge and win his match was No. 7 freshman Ian Childs. The fact that a Quaker victory came from one of the first year players should come as no surprise to all the squash fans out there. The freshmen, along with sophomore Craig Rappaport, have carried the Red and Blue throughout the season. But everybody will need to bring their game to the next level to fair well in the ISA Championships in three weeks. Yesterday's performance will not cut it. "I feel that there are a couple of guys who are disappointed, but most of them feel they competed pretty well," Edwards said. "We're just about a notch away from turning some of those matches around, but we are competing better than earlier in the year." Looking back at the year, two games jump out as disappointments -- a January 26 home loss to Franklin & Marshall and a January 30 loss to Trinity, also at the Ringe Courts. Childs' absence in the Trinity game hurt Penn tremendously, and if he was in the lineup, the result might have been different. If the Quakers could have those two back, they are confident that the results would have been reversed. "I think looking back, we should have beaten F&M; and Trinity," Rappaport said. "Our goal now is to beat them in the team championships in three weeks. We know we can. They just pulled it out those couple days." "I feel as though we should have beat them," Edwards said. "I know that Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Western Ontario are stronger teams than us. But, I'm really disappointed about those two losses." The Quakers shouldn't expect much rest time up till the championships February 26-27 in Yale. Penn will only get one day off before it's back to work again. "Ned is going to have us ready," Rappaport said. "He's talking about some serious practicing," "We're going to get into a more relaxed way where we work really hard for three weeks," Edwards said. "We are going to see what we can do because we have come such a long way to get to this point." The Quakers do realize they are young and can only improve next year. No. 9 Billy Hamilton is the only senior on the roster and the substantial part of the lineup is freshmen. So, with time, these Quakers may really start making some noise. 1993 -- Penn 6-8, No. 9 in the country. 1994 -- Penn 6-6, No. 7 in the country. At this rate, if Penn ever breaks the .500 mark, a No. 1 ranking might be in sight.