For the Penn men's squash team, the preseason was one filled with optimism and high expectations. The moment of truth for a team with championship aspirations finally came last weekend, as the Quakers opened their season at Cornell. Despite the frigid temperatures of Ithaca, N.Y., Penn was able to heat up in a hurry and burn the Big Red, 7-2. "This match had to set the tone for our season," Penn senior co-captain Juan Dominguez said. "Everyone was focused and knew what they had to do in order to win, and they went out and did it." Penn defeated Cornell by the identical score earlier in the month at the Ivy Scrimmages, so its dominance did not come as a surprise. "This is a team that we should be able to beat 9-0," Quakers senior Jason Karp said prior to the match. Although the Quakers did not come away with a sweep, the lineup turned in a solid overall performance, spearheaded by its returning starters. Senior co-captain Juan Dominguez paced the Quakers early, as he won his opening match, 3-0, over Cornell's No. 1 player, Siddharth Jain. Penn sophomore Chuck Braff followed with a 3-1 victory over Patrick Kempe, while teammate Nilay Metha made easy work of Brian Mathias, 3-0. Karp also came away with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Rahul Roy. "Our guys showed that they were capable of rising to the challenges that are placed before them," Penn coach Jim Masland said. "We were playing on smaller (American) courts, in front of their home crowd. Jason and Chuck were especially impressive in being able to come back after being down early." The lower half of the Penn lineup was able to sustain the onslaught. Co-captain Tim Filla defeated Taylor Milner, 3-1. Newcomers Andrew Hopkins and Peter Withstandley also contributed with strong showings in their debuts. Hopkins, a transfer from Franklin and Marshall, walloped John Bgan, 3-0, and Brian Colton fell to Withstandley, 3-1. For a team looking to overcome injuries to two of its top players, Jamie White and Shams Mistry, the impressive play by younger players was key. "It was huge for the young players to learn how to be competitive on the collegiate level," Dominguez said. "With all of the injuries, they are now the backbone of our team." Later in the day, Penn played a second match versus Western Ontario, one of the top-rated teams in intercollegiate squash. Ontario lived up to its billing as it blitzed the Quakers, 8-1. Despite the outcome of the match, it did not overshadow the important victory over Cornell. "It was important to get our first win and be headed in the right direction," Filla said. "We showed that we are a team that can dominate weaker teams, which is important when it comes to the Ivy League standings." Penn now takes a break for Thanksgiving and will return to action in two weeks, when it plays two important Ivy matches at home against Yale and Brown.
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