Squash teams host Tigers

Women look past match With just one match remaining before the prestigious Howe Cup, the Penn women's squash team is running out of time to prepare. The Quakers will play Princeton today (4 p.m., Ringe Courts), but then again, that does not really matter to them. What really matters is that Penn will play in the second division of the Howe Cup in a few weeks and will use this match against the Tigers as practice for the important upcoming tournament against the best teams in the country. "We're going to use Princeton as a practice to apply ourselves," Penn coach Demer Holleran said, "so we can do it in the Howe Cup when we play five matches in one weekend." Princeton happens to be among the top three teams in the country and the youthful Quakers will have their hands more than full with their opponents this afternoon. "Princeton is pretty strong. They've beaten teams that we've been beaten by," Holleran said. "They only lost 5-4 to [top-seeded] Harvard. My biggest hope is that the team will give it the best they can. We'll be hard-pressed to win." That's not to say that the Quakers have already conceded defeat against the Tigers. With a record of 5-5 against some of the top teams in the nation, the Quakers are no slackards. "Our goals are to play as hard as we can and find their weak points," Holleran said. "We want to leave the court knowing we gave 100 percent." Indeed, that should not be a problem as the Quakers always give opponents a run for their money. Nevertheless, the team cannot help but to look ahead. "The Princeton match is our last match before the Howe Cup," junior co-captain Liz Fuss said. "After that's over, we have a week and a half to prepare for the Howe Cup." Since the Quakers will play in the second division of the "Super Bowl of Squash," their hopes to win and thus finish the season ranked seventh are alive and well. "We'll be expected to win our division," Holleran said. "We're going to be in pressure situations in all our matches, especially against Williams. They lost 6-3 to Dartmouth, the same score we lost by." Although the team will be looking past the match against the Tigers, the Quakers will play to win. Although this match most likely will have no effect on the standings, don't expect any of the Penn players to strut on the court with a cigarette and a pair of sunglasses.