W. Squash waiting for No. 1 Harvard

Practice makes perfect, or so hopes the Penn women's squash team. It seems like that's all it gets to do this season. Saturday at noon, the Quakers will face off against yet another lesser quality team when they challenge Williams at Penn's Ringe Squash Courts. So far this season, Penn (4-0) has not played a team that measures up to its level of competition. The Quakers won three of their matches with scores of 9-0 and the fourth 8-1. They get more of a workout when they play each other in practice. This weekend's match should prove to be no different. If the Quakers continue to play like they have in their previous matches, they should dismantle Williams without a second thought. While Penn coach Demer Holleran called Williams "a solid smaller school with decent results so far this season," she followed this with, "I don't even recognize a single name on their roster." "We are using this match as a tune-up for next week," Holleran said. "The more matches we play, the more match-tough we will be." On January 31, the Red and Blue will see if it has what it takes to become the new national champion as it battles Ivy League rival and nationally ranked No. 1 team Harvard. Until then, practice will continue to consist of easier match play. On Monday and Tuesday, Penn competed against the Philadelphia Cricket Club and Merion Cricket Club, respectively. These local, private clubs compiled a line-up of their best men, women and junior squash players to try to provide the strong Quaker team with some serious competition. Although the matches were close and were only scrimmages, Penn did come away with two more victories. "They were new people so we had never seen their strategies before," Holleran said. "It's good practice trying to figure out your opponent's weaknesses." Holleran is stressing four main aspects of the game, which she claims, if mastered, are the key to winning. In the two scrimmages and the match against Williams, the Quakers job is to concentrate on good serves, service returns, drop shots and volleys. "On the whole, the team is doing these things better than ever before," Holleran said. "We need to create more short points by getting the first blow." She credited freshmen Lauren Patrizio and Rina Borromeo with accomplishing the four goals particularly well. "Lauren and Rina are both focusing really hard and executing well," Holleran said. "It should pay off in their tougher matches." All Holleran can hope for now is that as the time grows closer and closer for when they face Ivy foes Harvard and Princeton, all of this practice pays off. "We'll be ready," Holleran said.