M. Squash literally does not show up, gets whitewashed

In its first action in nearly six weeks, the Penn men's squash team was overmatched on account of being undermanned. Denison (4-0) routed the Quakers (1-3, 1-2 Ivy League) 9-0 last Thursday at the Ringe Squash Courts. The talented Big Red squad got back into the swing of things for the first time since a November 21 besting of Dartmouth with a dominating performance over the home Red and Blue. Penn was not even able to push any of the matches to the full five games. Denison's performance was remarkable, but it was nonetheless somewhat understandable. The Quakers were without six of their 10 varsity players. Their No. 1, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, No. 7 and No. 8 players were all still away from Philadelphia when the Big Red came to town. "It's pretty rough since we're missing six guys," junior co-captain Peter Withstandley said. "I think that the guys that are here are putting in a solid effort, though." These absences are naturally disheartening for first-year coach Craig Thorpe-Clark, but he seems to be taking them in stride. "I knew that most of them weren't going to make it back," Thorpe-Clark said. "One thing you have to say about this group is that they're resilient. "I am very pleased with the way that they have kept at the level of commitment that they have been at for the whole season." The Big Red, from Granville, Ohio, finished ninth in the country in 1998-99 and have added additional depth this season to make them downright dangerous. Their freshman class boasts Abhijit Kukreja, originally from Bombay, India, who already sports a host of national-level experience for his native country. Kukreja defeated Penn's Sam Miller in convincing 3-0 fashion on Thursday. "I think we're a little deeper this year," Denison coach Jonathan Bridge said. "We played them [the Quakers] first semester last year and they beat us 5-4. I think it definitely would have been tighter if they had their whole group here today." There is no way that the Quakers could have easily overcome the absence of such heavyweights as junior Jamie White and sophomores Roberto Kriete and Mukund Khaitan. The three played No.1, No. 3 and No.4, respectively, in Penn's 5-4 defeat of Brown on December 4. Despite these glaring absences, there were a smattering of bright spots for the Quakers. Withstandley was pleased with his 3-0 loss at the hands of Arif Paul, Denison's eminently capable No. 1. "The games were all pretty tight, so I'm very pleased," Withstandley said. "He was third at the National Championship last year, and he ran me around a lot." Another bright light for Penn was the play of junior Will Ruthrauff who played in his first match after spending the fall semester at a National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) program in the Pacific Northwest. Ruthrauff fell to Denison's Ahsen Ahmed 3-1, but Thorpe-Clark feels that his play looks to be in good shape so soon after his return. "I thought Will Ruthrauff played really well for his first match back," Thorpe-Clark said. On the whole, Penn's head man seems quite content with the effort that the Quakers who did return before the end of break demonstrated. The Quakers will not have much time to stew over their defeat against the Big Red. They need to regroup in a hurry, as they will see action tomorrow at Navy. They will take on the Midshipmen at 6 p.m. in Annapolis, Md.

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