The Penn men's squash team will compete for the Hoehn Trophy at Princeton. For the Penn men's squash team, the last four months have been a constant learning process filled with disappointment and frustration. As the Quakers prepare for the Intercollegiate Squash Association Team Championships at Princeton this weekend, they have an opportunity to find some light at the end of a season in which they finished 4-8 overall and 2-4 in the Ivy League. Penn enters the tournament seeded as one of eight teams that will compete in the second tier for the Hoehn Trophy. The Quakers have some experience in this position. Last year the team found itself in the second tier and left the nationals with the Hoehn Trophy in their back pocket after defeating Navy, Cornell and Brown. Despite a 6-8 record, Penn finished the season ranked ninth in the nation. Quakers coach Jim Masland knows that his team has endured much adversity in the last year and that the road to the Hoehn Trophy will not be an easy one. "It's a year later and we are a much different team," Masland said. "Shams [Mistry] and Chuck [Braff] were playing last year, which would obviously help a lot this year." The veterans who were a part of last season's success at the nationals understand the challenges and difficulties that lie ahead of them during the three-day tournament. Hopefully, new players will be able to adjust to a higher level of competition and help the team find success during the weekend. "The seniors on this team are quite experienced and should be ready no matter what circumstances may come up," said senior Nilay Mehta. "We do have some freshmen and sophomores who have not played many matches on the national level, where the players are a lot tougher than they are in the regular season." Being seeded in the second tier could be a blessing in disguise for the Red and Blue. After losing to national powerhouses Harvard, Princeton and Trinity, Penn will be competing with teams such as Brown, Cornell and Franklin and Marshall, who they have already beaten this season. Penn will face off against the Vassar Brewers Friday evening and will then play Brown or Bowdin depending on the outcome of the two matches. "Playing teams who we have confidence against will be a significant advantage," senior Jason Karp said. "Winning becomes easier if you are not intimidated by the other team. With that added confidence, we won't allow ourselves to lose." For Karp, Mehta and fellow seniors Juan Dominguez and Trey Fitzpatrick, the team championships will be the final matches of their collegiate careers. Naturally, everyone involved wants to finish on a positive note. "The only thing that we expect is for everyone to play hard and be a cohesive unit," Karp said. "The only way that we can win again will be as a team -- we have to look out for one another before, during and after matches." The light the Quakers see at the end of the tunnel is a faint one. For the team as a whole, and especially the seniors, time is running out. At the team championships, Penn will attempt to add a few moments of glory to what has been an otherwise disappointing season.
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