NOTEBOOK: Wrestling looking for fans and an Ivy title

The Penn wrestling team is ready for its first home meets since November. A free spring break for two, the promise of Ivy rivalries flaring up and convenient scheduling -- the Penn wrestling team is pulling out all the stops. All they ask for in return is fan support. "For me, the Palestra is the home of wrestling," sophomore 157-pounder Yoshi Nakamura said. "We're glad to be back home. We want our fans to be there." The Quakers (5-0-2, 1-0-1 Ivy League) stand at a crucial juncture in the season. It has been well over two months since the team last graced its home mats. This weekend they are poised to take on Brown and Harvard, two must-wins on the path to their fifth Ivy championship in the last six seasons. The team hopes it can attract some fans this weekend to provide an added edge. "We are definitely hoping for a good turnout on both days," Penn coach Roger Reina said. "We're raffling off a spring break for two after [the] Harvard [match]. We're also starting after men's basketball against Brown." The No. 20 Quakers could use some quality time at home after a grueling swing through the Empire State this past weekend. A mildly disappointing 16-16 tie with Cornell on Saturday was followed by a 35-6 destruction of overmatched Columbia. With the Bears and the Crimson at home, the team will not have to deal with the burden of a marathon bus ride, in addition to the usual pressures of making weight and mentally preparing for competition. · Mark Piotrowsky has had to deal with pressure before. The senior tri-captain and 141-lb. standout is a two-time NCAA qualifier and EIWA finalist. Therefore, he has ample experience competing at a high level. But the burden placed on him the last two weeks -- having to wrestle the final match against both No. 18 Cornell and No. 9 Central Michigan -- has been especially tough. Piotrowsky found a similar fate in both matches. He lost to national No. 2 Chris Marshall of CMU by three, 7-4. Cornell's No. 20 Ben New also got the best of No. 12 Piotrowsky by the same margin, 4-1. "There's always pressure on you," Piotrowsky said. "I haven't really had to deal with that kind before. In the long run, I'll learn from that. It'll help me at the end of the season." After the losses to both national contenders, Piotrowsky rebounded well. He blew out the best that Eastern Michigan and Columbia could offer, garnering technical falls in both contests. The recurrent criticism against "Pio," which comes from his own mouth as well as Reina's, is that he lets his opponents dictate the pace of matches. "Against Cornell, Piotrowsky got caught wrestling his opponent's match," Reina said. "He's very good on his feet. He's dominant on top. He has to dictate the match to win." Piotrowsky will need to wait at least one more week for life to get any easier. Harvard All-American Dustin DeNunzio will walk into the Palestra on Saturday. DeNunzio, who is perhaps underrated at No. 9, has beaten Pio in all three of their matches. The first two were hard-fought and came at last year's dual meet and EIWA Championship. The most recent DeNunzio win came by a slim, two-point margin at this year's Ivy Kickoff. "I've been watching film on him," Piotrowsky said. "I know what he's going to do and what his strengths are. I just need to wrestle my match." · Pins are rare in college wrestling, so it is disheartening when a chance for one -- and the six team points that go along with it -- goes awry. No. 10 Nakamura let such an opportunity go by in his 6-2 win against Cornell's Leo Urbinelli. "Yoshi initiated a throw in the third period," Reina said. "But he didn't settle the position in time, so the Cornell wrestler was able to get out of bounds." One should not lose sight of the fact that Nakamura still managed to soundly defeat Urbinelli. But a pin would have given Penn an additional three points in a match it tied 16-16. "I didn't wrestle up to my potential," Nakamura said. "I'm going to have to step up just like the whole team is going to have to step up." · Sophomore Rick Springman (165 lbs.) is quickly becoming an ace in the hole for the still undefeated Quakers. "I think Rick is working hard," Reina said. "More importantly, he's working smart and thoughtful. He is entering competition on the attack." Springman's attack has been ferocious in the ties against CMU and Cornell. Without his major decisions -- 13-2 over the Chippewas' Chris Snyder and 11-2 over the Big Red's Sean Severin -- the Red and Blue would have fallen in defeat. The nation's No. 9 will face yet another test against No. 6 Joey Killar of Harvard.