W. Squash romps in league opener

Saturday's match against Cornell was an example of total domination by the Penn women's squash team. The Quakers defeated the Big Red, 8-1, in a match where Penn opted not to start three of its top five players. Still, seven of the nine Penn starters won their matches by a score of 3-0 in Ithaca, N.Y. All-Americans Jessica DiMauro and Katie Patrick, Penn's No. 1 and No. 2 players, respectively, watched from the sidelines. In addition, freshman standout Rina Borromeo from the Philippines did not play. As in the past, Penn coach Demer Holleran has consistently pulled her top players against weaker opponents, like Cornell, in order to give the younger players experience. The Red and Blue's substitutes rose to the challenge to lift Penn over Cornell in both squad's season openers. "[Holleran] wanted us to go out there and establish ourselves," said Eliza Jacobs, who played the ninth spot and picked up Penn's only loss. "We want to build up some momentum for our tougher matches coming up." Yale and Brown, two more challenging teams, face the Quakers on December 6 and 7. Penn will then have its toughest matches against Ivy rivals Harvard and Princeton after the semester break. The most difficult aspect of Saturday's match for the more experienced Quakers was playing on Cornell's American courts rather than the international size on which Penn usually plays. This discrepancy, however, added little pressure. "In the first game, I was like, 'How do you play on these courts'?" said Dana Lipson, who played No. 2. "The cross-court shot I like to hit was completely ineffective. I would think I had won the point and then it would just keep going. Once we got the hang of it though, we won easily." Jacobs' loss was the one blemish for Penn, but her match was the most interesting of the day. Jacobs lost to Cornell's Talley Wettalufer, whom Jacobs had known as a kid in Eggertsville, N.Y. "It was really hard, because I was playing my oldest friend from home," Jacobs said. "I was really rattled in the first game and didn't play well at all. Then in the second game, I calmed down and started to hit the ball better and won easily." Jacobs nearly came away with a victory after having several match points in the fourth game, but was unable to hang on. She lost a 6-1 lead in the fifth to lose, 9-6. "I don't think I lost it or blew it," Jacobs said. "She just made the big shots when it counted." The Red and Blue were not surprised by Saturday's result, only the courts it came on. "We all had high expectations," Lipson said. "But, the courts were still a challenge."