Dartmouth, Harvard end Howe Cup hopes

As the ball from Liz Fuss' final shot skipped across the smooth wooden floor and inched past the outstretched racket of her Dartmouth opponent, the crestfallen faces of the Penn women's squash team wrote the story of the day. The Quakers had fought their hardest match of the year, only to finish on the losing end of a 5-4 decision to Dartmouth. The loss followed a 9-0 shutout at the hands of undefeated No. 1 Harvard Saturday. Fuss won her match against Dartmouth, 3-1, but the cheers were somewhat hollow since it was only the fourth win for a Penn team that had already suffered the game-deciding fifth loss moments earlier. As the rolling ball headed toward a corner and slowed to a halt, so did the Quakers' chances of making the first division of the Howe Cup. "It was a hard, frustrating match," sophomore No. 2 Abigail Hopkins said. "We couldn't settle down. It was a real tough loss." Hopkins' disappointment echoed from the mouths of every member the Quakers' squad. "We didn't play as well as we should have," sophomore Jill Viola said. After the expected loss to Harvard, all eyes turned toward yesterday's game against Dartmouth. The contest with the Big Green was billed by one and all as the game of the year for the Red and Blue. Yesterday's defeat officially puts the Quakers in the second division of the Howe Cup, a difficult pill for the team to swallow. "We wanted to win to assure a position in the first division of the Howe Cup," Viola said. "We have to prepare to win our division of the Cup." In a weekend of disappointment, there were several highlights for the Quakers. Sophomore No. 4 Elissa Helt defeated a familiar face, Torie McEvoy of Dartmouth, 3-0. McEvoy, a sophomore transfer from Penn, had a difficult time with Helt's precise placement and timing. "Whenever I left a ball in the middle of the court, she knew what to do," McEvoy said. Wins by Helt, Fuss and juniors Lissa Hunsicker and Katy Textor helped keep the match tight for the Quakers. A close 3-2 loss by sophomore Katherine Viener made an agonizing loss even tougher for Penn. For the second time this year, the hopes of Penn's season rested on the outcome of only one game in one match. The Quakers dropped a 5-4 decision to Amherst January 29 in similar fashion. This loss left the Quakers frustrated and searching for answers. "We seemed nervous," Fuss said. "The match could have gone either way, and we badly wanted the win, but they played well." The words of Viener summed up the emotions of a distraught Penn team. "Even though we lost, we all tried hard, and we'll head into the Howe Cup with high spirits and high hopes," she said.