M. Squash begins crucial portion of schedule against F

It's crunch time for the Penn men's squash team. At the beginning of a vital stretch that includes four matches in five days, the Quakers (6-0) travel today to Lancaster to take on Franklin and Marshall College, a team that upset them at home a year ago. The Diplomats (7-1) escaped West Philadelphia with a 5-4 victory last year that featured losses by No. 1 Steve Scharff and No. 3 Craig Rappaport. Both Scharff and Rappaport are hoping to bounce back this year, a fact that is not lost on F&M; coach John Stallings. "I realize that Penn will be looking to avenge that loss," he said. "Last year's match was tough. It could have gone either way. We just got lucky enough to pull out the victory. Anything can happen with the top teams in the country." F&M; is ranked eighth in the country. The Quakers are fifth. Penn has some players returning from minor injuries, so the lineup will be different than the one used in last Saturday's West Point Invitational. Scharff, Andrew Braff, Craig Rappaport, Sumeet Bhullar and Ian Childs will play Nos. 1-5. Sanjay Nayar, Chris Bradeen, Carl Sibbern and Ed Vincent will be in the 6-9 spots. Scharff will be playing Diplomats standout J.P. Pandole for the third straight year. Although Scharff lost last year, he beat Pandole the year before and is looking forward to a close, hard-fought battle. "Steve's match will be hard, probably a 50-50 tossup," Braff said. "After that, although all the matches will be tough, I'd like to think that the rest of us should be favored." The Quakers believe they are a better team than they were last year, in part due to superior conditioning, and in part because of the change from the hardball to the softball during the matches. All of Penn's international recruits are very familiar with the softball, which until this year was used everywhere but in the United States. The international students will have an undisputed edge against their American-born F&M; opponents. Stallings was diplomatic about his team's chances. "Penn is favored, and deservedly so. If we want to be where Penn is, we have to beat them. It's a great rivalry, and we really respect them. We're two very similar teams." F&M; has a reputation for having some of the loudest, most obnoxious fans in all of collegiate squash. Some teams even refuse to play there because of the obscenities the fans shout during the matches. "The rudeness might intimidate some of the younger players, but players like Steve, Craig and I will thrive on it. We've been there before and we know what to expect," Braff said. The players are aware of the big picture, which includes Trinity, Williams and Amherst coming up this weekend. They believe a win today will do wonders for their confidence going into the next match. But as for now, the Diplomats are foremost on their minds. "They're probably our biggest rival outside the Ivy League. They have rude fans and they are also a quality team. They're the one team we'd love to beat," Braff said.