M. Squash finishes year ranked 4th in nation

Four years of hard work finally paid off for the four seniors on the Penn men's squash team. For the first time since in their collegiate careers, the Quakers finished their season ranked in the top four in the nation. Penn finished this past weekend's Potter Trophy tournament -- the national championship of squash -- ranked No. 4 nationally. The Quakers improved from their No. 5 ranking last year, and although at the beginning of the season some members of the team expected a No. 2 or No. 3 finish, they were pleased with their season. "I'm happy with the way the season turned out," Penn junior Leif Berquist said. Despite winning only one of its three matches during the weekend, Penn was still able to finish in the top four because it won the first and most important match against Trinity, 5-4. The match came down to Penn sophomore Nilay Mehta, who played the final match against the Bantams' Joe Pentland. Mehta's 15-11 win in the final game gave him the match victory, 3-1. The win broke a 4-4 tie and gave Penn the overall win. "Nilay played a great match," Penn coach Ned Edwards said. Quakers senior co-captain Andrew Braff also pulled off a victory despite playing injured. Competing in the No. 3 spot instead of his usual No. 1 position, Braff won 3-1 against Trinity captain Austin Perkins, who he had lost to just last weekend. "He made a few more mistakes [this time], and I was hitting the ball extremely well," Braff said. "I'm relieved that I don't have to play anymore because I'm in a lot of pain." Braff had not practiced with the team for the past two weeks due to his pulled hamstring. "It was great to see Andrew win," Berquist said. But Harvard shut out the Quakers, 9-0, in the semifinals, before going on to win the tournament and the national championship. The Crimson did not drop a match throughout the tournament. The only game won by Penn against Harvard was by Quakers senior co-captain Craig Rappaport, who also had a game point in the fourth game which would have extended the match to five games. But Rappaport lost the fourth-game lead, dropping the match in four games. "It was a good game," Rappaport said. "It was good to be competitive with the same guy who killed me at Harvard." In its final team match of the year, Penn lost to Princeton, 8-1, Sunday. The Quakers had expected to play Amherst for third place, but the Lord Jeffs surprisingly upset Princeton on Saturday. "We didn't play that well and they played really well," Rappaport said of the Princeton match. "We're definitely happy with four," Rappaport added. "The top four is an accomplishment."