Still No. 1: W. Squash edges Tigers

Lauren Patrizio won the deciding match in three games for Penn's first-ever win over Princeton. After 24 years of coming up just short, the Penn women's squash team finally came out on top. Last night at Penn's Ringe Courts, on the strength of a three-game victory from junior Lauren Patrizio in the night's final match, the No. 1 Quakers pulled out a hard-fought 5-4 victory over No. 3 Princeton. This was the first-ever victory over the rivals from Old Nassau in the history of women's squash at Penn, and it will keep the Quakers at their deserved No. 1 spot in the nation. "It's surreal at this point," Penn senior co-captain Paige Kollock said. "It could have gone either way, but I just felt like I personally have been working so hard, and so has the rest of the team, that there was no way we could lose." But while the Quakers (6-0, 4-0 Ivy League) were celebrating their hard-earned victory, the Tigers (5-1, 2-1) were huddled in silent discussion. "It's painful," Princeton coach Gail Ramsay said. "We match up pretty well with Penn, and I thought we could win more at the back, but they were just too strong. They were just a little more competitive today than we were. "But otherwise, I was happy to see Penn do so well. They've worked really hard, and it's been a great rivalry over the last four or five years." When Patrizio, the Quakers No. 5 player, finally took the court for the last match of the evening, all the pressure was on her to get the deciding fifth victory. Penn was ahead four matches to three, but Quakers No. 1 Runa Reta was down two games to none. The visitors were on the verge of overcoming a three-to-one deficit to pull off the upset. "I was just trying not to think about the fact that there was a lot of pressure," Patrizio said. "I was just really concentrating on getting the ball to the back of the court and taking it one point at a time -- those were really the only two things going through my head." But while those were the only things going through Patrizio's head, a host of her well-placed shots were going right through her Princeton opponent, Anna Minkowski. Down 5-2 to Minkowski in the first game, Patrizio did not flinch, running off seven unanswered points over the course of three serves to take the first game, 9-5. Then, after Reta fell in four games, and with the entirety of the crowd watching her court, Patrizio ran off four consecutive points to take the crucial second game as well. "I think it was just that I was pretty confident," Patrizio said. "I was hitting it to her backhand a little more, and just really deep -- not trying to have it come off the back wall. And the way our courts are, you just have to make it sit back there and not have it come up." Several minutes later, when Minkowski "tinned" a forehand return, it was over. Patrizio's 9-5, 9-2, 9-4 victory had sparked a celebration for the home team. "I was really impressed with the victory tonight and the composure, that people could play hard under the pressure. Lauren really played steady," Penn coach Demer Holleran said."This was definitely a team effort. The whole attitude has been so great in terms of everybody working. "You never know where you're going to get five wins, but you keep fighting until you do." For those who came early to the Ringe Courts, the prospect of the match coming down to the last player seemed improbable. Penn started the night in very strong fashion, with No. 2 Katie Patrick, No. 4 Helen Bamber and No. 8 Chrissy Eynon all turning in early victories for the Red and Blue. Both Eynon and Bamber won rather easily in three straight games, with the latter withstanding a second-game rally from Princeton's Liz Kelly to win, 9-2, 9-7, 9-1. Patrick, a senior co-captain who, like many a Penn senior captain before her, had never defeated Princeton, won in four games on the center court. "I think I played OK," said Patrick, who won, 9-4, 3-9, 9-2, 9-1."I was a little nervous just because of the whole hoopla of the event, and it took a while to get rid of those kinds of nerves. "It looked like we were going to win big, but you can never tell. It was quite tense. It was fun like that, but at the same time, it would be nicer if it was over with earlier." The Tigers, however, did not succumb to the early deficit. Princeton No. 6 Emily Eynon -- sister of Penn's Chrissy Eynon -- picked up a drawn-out, five-game victory for the Tigers. Then, in rapid succession, the visitors pounced on Penn's No. 3 Rina Borromeo and No. 7 Paige Kollock for three-game victories, chipping away at the Quakers' advantage. But Penn No. 9 Patti Lin demolished her opponent -- 9-1, 9-0, 9-0 -- to put the Quakers up 4-3 heading into the top-flight match. The Tigers' No. 1 -- defending Individual National Champion Julia Beaver -- handled Penn's Reta in four games, leaving the outcome of the meet in the hands of Patrizio. And the Penn junior, who sat on the floor smiling with a large bag of ice on her left knee after the victory, came through. "I have to say that, I was thinking that Lauren's match was one we could win," said Ramsay, the Tigers coach. "I knew that Lauren was coming off an injury and that she wouldn't be 100 percent. I was hoping that my player would win -- that was a match that I thought we might be able to win." The past two seasons have seen the Quakers finish No. 3 nationally. Each year, they found themselves looking up at the Tigers and Harvard in the national rankings. Last night, however, Penn showed it is finally ready to take the big step and surpass Princeton. The next stop for the team is at Harvard on February 12, and from there, the National Championships. "It's not over. We beat Princeton, but we have not won the national title. And I think that that is hopefully in the back of everybody's heads," Holleran said. "And I think we can do it -- we're a great team." For now, though, the team is willing to risk basking in its night of glory. "We still have Harvard, and we can't get too overconfident by any means, but it's a great feeling," Patrizio said.

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