W. Squash 'holleran' about playing time

The Quakers talent has made playing time scarce for their players. The biggest thing keeping the Penn women's squash team from capturing its first national title this season may be itself. When the Quakers (3-0, 1-0 Ivy League) travel to Yale (0-0) and Brown (0-1, 0-1) on Saturday and Sunday respectively, they will be a team in the midst of internal division. One of the downsides of consistently recruiting some of the top squash players in the nation, such as freshman Blair Morris, is that it is nearly impossible to keep everyone satisfied. Penn coach Demer Holleran is open about competitiveness and quality of the Penn squash program. She tells all the players up front that while she tries her best to give everyone an opportunity to play in a difficult, Ivy League match, only the top ten will be the ones in the lineup. "It is certainly difficult to keep everyone happy. I mean that is a struggle that every coach has to deal with," Holleran said. "There are always going to be a few people who are less happy than the others. I try to cater to the majority." In addition to making her athletes perform at the highest level, Holleran has the challenging responsibility of balancing the delicate egos of some of the most talented athletes on campus. "There are a few people on the team feeling like their matches don't really count and that they are not an important part of our team," co-captain junior Jessica DiMauro said. "It is coming out a little bit in practice because they are feeling neglected." Although the players who are unsatisfied with their role and position on the team remain unidentified, they form only a small faction. Team leaders do not feel that this will be a long term problem that will divide the Quakers in two. Although this problem has admittedly caused social problems on the team, Penn has been able to leave its differences off the court thus far. "Overall, I do not think that this will cause any problems on the team when it comes to matches because everyone works equally hard," DiMauro said. "It does cause some social problems though with people feeling uncomfortable around one another." Despite the difficulties they may be facing, Holleran and the rest of the Quakers are quick to say how truly valuable the bottom half of the lineup is to the success of the team. "On a squash team it does not matter whether you are on the top or bottom of the ladder," sophomore Helen Bamber said. "If you are playing No. 9 and playing a match that could decide the outcome of the match and let your team win, you are the most valuable player on that team. "Every single player is worth the same as every other player. Just because you are a better squash player does not mean that you are more important to the team," Bamber said. Fortunately for Penn they should not have to exert very much energy against either the Elis or the Bears. The Quakers are using this weekend more to bond the team together than to measure their standing in Ivy League competition. "We played Yale at the scrimmages [before the season]," DiMauro said. "According to how Brown did at the scrimmages we should beat them with even less effort. I do not expect this weekend to be too tough." Many players agree with Bamber, who believes that the best part about road trips is their ability to build team unity -- which might be just what this team needs right now.