M. Squash ready to battle No. 2 Tigers

It doesn't get any easier for the Penn men's squash team. Just three days after a grueling Ivy League weekend in which the Quakers (9-4, 4-1 Ivy League) were blown out by Harvard and then turned around to crush Dartmouth, they go on the road today to face arch-rival Princeton. Princeton (5-1, 3-1) is ranked second in the country behind Harvard and has always been one of the stronger teams in the country. The Tigers shut out the Quakers at Ringe Courts last year. The team is trying to set realistic goals, as it did before the Harvard match. "We're going to go out and play tough, and if any individual can come away with a win, we'll consider it a victory," Penn coach Ned Edwards said. Princeton has been taking the squash ranks by storm this season. Their only loss came to the Crimson by a score of 6-3. Other than their loss to Harvard, the Tigers have shut out every opponent, including Amherst, which beat the Quakers 6-3 last month. The top three Tigers, including All-American No. 1 Jason Jewell, have a combined record of 14-2. Princeton has remained on top through great tradition and excellent recruiting. Penn had hoped to get a leg up on the competition this season with some strong international recruiting, but many of Edwards' efforts were in vain. International standouts Vayu Garware and Sumeet Bhullar left the team just as the season got underway. Players like Bhullar and Garware were supposed to give the Quakers more experience in playing squash with the softball. The softball had previously been used everywhere internationally outside the United States, but this was the first year in which American collegiate squash made the change from the hardball to the softball. International students, therefore, have not needed the adjustment period required by their American counterparts. Penn has been noticeably weakened through the absence of these international recruits. "We had hopes that they would contribute to our team, but it's hard when none of them are still with us," Edwards said. As for the match today, the players can't wait to face the Tigers, whose No. 2 ranking has the Quakers motivated to perform. "Princeton will be tough," Penn junior co-captain Craig Rappaport said. "If I can win my Princeton match, it will make my season." This will be Penn's final match of the regular season. The Quakers will find themselves back on Princeton's campus Feb. 24-26 for the ISA Team Championships, squash's postseason tournament.