Amherst ruins exam plans for M. Squash

The Penn men's squash team hosts perennial powerhouse Amherst. While most Penn students will be locked in their rooms studying hard for finals this Saturday, the men's squash team will find itself instead at the Ringe Squash Courts, competing against Amherst. Amherst (1-0) is, under any circumstances, a difficult team to play. Ranked No. 3 in the nation last year, the Lord Jeffs are led by Dave McNeely, one of the top juniors players in America. Add to that equation a solid returning lineup, and the Quakers (3-1) did not need any added distractions to make this a tough match. "The fact that the University has taken away all of our reading days has hurt our ability to focus on both school and squash," Penn sophomore Will Ruthrauff said. "I definitely think the fact that finals are this weekend is going to be a problem. I have exams four out of the five days next week, and it is going to be hard to solely focus on Amherst on Saturday." Even team captain Andrew Hopkins admits that having the match take place so soon before finals might prove to be a problem. "The difficulty is that squash is such a mentally-founded game," Hopkins said. "With finals right now, it is hard to keep the necessary concentration." Should the Quakers overcome their scheduling problem and beat Amherst, however, they would then head into winter vacation and the end of the first half of the season with a 4-1 record -- their best start in recent memory. "A win here would, I think, definitely boost our confidence," Hopkins said. "Going 4-1 would be a tremendous turnaround from what we had last year, when we headed into the break with a record of 2-2." Furthermore, a win against Amherst would move the Quakers one step closer to their goal of finishing as one of the eight highest-ranked teams in the nation. "Amherst is one of the top-rated teams we play," Penn coach Jim Masland said. "Certainly, if we play well against them it will improve our chances of being considered for the first division, which is composed of the eight top teams." Luckily, the Quakers do have plenty of factors working to their advantage against Amherst. They are coming off a weekend in which they showed resiliency by bouncing back from a loss against Yale to beat Brown. Furthermore, the away matches helped further develop team unity. "Road trips are long and after 12 hours on a bus with the same people, it winds up pulling the team together," Hopkins said. Another factor that cannot be overlooked this weekend is the home-court advantage Penn possesses. "There is definitely a home-court advantage in squash," Ruthrauff said. "For instance, Yale's courts were really physically hot so that the ball bounced much better. We are used to Penn's courts while Amherst is not, which is a big advantage." By Saturday night, the squash team will know its final record heading into vacation. Then the players will join the rest of the Penn population and begin to study for finals.