W. Squash takes third at Howe Cup

Last weekend, the Penn women's squash team competed at Yale in the Howe Cup, a tournament which decides one of the two national champions. The Quakers toppled Trinity in their first match by a score of 9-0, then suffered a heartbreaking 5-4 loss in the semifinal round to Harvard, the tournament's runner-up. The Crimson defeated Penn during the Ivy League season by the same 5-4 score. Penn rebounded in its third and final match to defeat Dartmouth with a resounding 9-0 shutout. The playoff win over the Big Green gave Penn a third-place finish in the prestigious tournament. Princeton won the tournament with an 8-1 drubbing of Harvard in the final. The win gave the Tigers a sweep of the national title, as they had already pocketed the regular season half of the championship. Although Penn put up an excellent showing in these matches, the Quakers have far too much talent to be satisfied with their performance. "It's really good to have trounced the competition behind us, but we must learn from our close losses as well," Penn coach Demer Holleran said. Holleran complimented the performances of Princeton and Harvard, the first and second place finishers at the Howe Cup, respectively. She maintained that although Penn suffered defeats at the hands of these two schools this season, the Quakers have learned a lot from those matches about the competitiveness and drive that it takes to be the best. "From those matches, the players have learned to push for that extra little bit, and to give everything they've got," Holleran said. Among the outstanding performers for the Quakers this weekend were team captain Jessica DiMauro, Katie Patrick, Regina Borromeo and Lindsay Moss. Borromeo, a freshman, earned three set victories in each of her matches, while Patrick didn't lose a single set in the tournament. The players echoed the thoughts of their coach, discussing the team's potential for the future. "I'm happy with how I played, but next year we'll definitely have a better chance at the championship," Moss said. She gained sweet revenge against Dartmouth by ousting an opponent she had lost to earlier in the season. "Harvard had great competitors who didn't cave under pressure, but we have the ability to beat them," Borromeo said. While some teams might view a third-place finish in the national championship tournament as an opportunity to revel in their own glory, it is clear that the Quakers are already looking toward higher ground. With a plethora of young talent and a relentless drive for improvement from both players and coach, a national championship may be a very realistic goal for next season.