SEASON REVIEW: M. Squash finishes sixth

Amidst all the hoopla over undefeated Ivy seasons for the Penn men's basketball and football squads, some Quaker sports teams may have gone unnoticed -- including the men's squash team. The 1993-94 Quakers (7-8) finished sixth in the country following a very discouraging campaign last year. Coming into the year, coach Ned Edwards hoped his team could finish as high as fourth, but in no way is he disappointed. "The guys competed much more effectively than the year before," Edwards said. "They are a good bunch of guys. We all enjoyed being in each other's company. They represented Penn really well." With only one senior, Billy Hamilton, on the team, the Quakers relied on their resilient youth to prevail in many matches. Especially outstanding was sophomore Craig Rappaport, who worked his way up all the way to the No. 3 spot in the lineup and will share captain honors next year with junior Steve Scharff. "Craig did a great job," Edwards said. "I look to him as a bright spot." "I was very happy with my year," Rappaport said. "I played really well." Scharff, who came into the season expecting nothing but the best, experienced some early troubles, but finished the year strong. Through thick and thin, however, Steve was there as the emotional leader for this young group. "Steve finished the year very strongly -- in the right frame of mind," Edwards said. "He was in probably his best frame of mind of the year. I was pleased with that." The Quakers were blessed with an exceptional recruiting class which included Juan Dominguez, Ian Childs and Sumeet Bhullar. These men had some of the best match-play records of anybody on the team. Childs went the whole year with only one loss. In certain matches, Dominguez and Bhullar had the only Quaker victories. But their inexperience and rawness was evident. "The freshmen were great assets, but they had their ups and downs," Edwards said. It is easy for the Penn players to deal with their expected losses to perennial national powerhouses Yale, Princeton and Harvard. But the ones that hurt were the nailbiting losses to Franklin & Marshall and Trinity (twice). After losing to each squad in the middle of the year, the Quakers yearned for a chance at revenge in the national championship tournament. They got their wish as they drew Trinity in a second-round match, but the Red and Blue fell 5-4. "The guys played really well, but it was really a disappointment," Edwards said. "There were a couple of matches that we could have made that one match up that we lost by." All in all, the 1993-94 campaign cannot be looked at as a disappointment, Edwards said, but an overwhelming success would be pushing it.