M. Squash finishes as national No. 13

Penn lost to Brown for the first time but bounced back for two victories. The score was all too familiar for the Penn men's squash team. The Quakers dropped their preliminary match at the Team Championships over the weekend to Brown -- the last in a string of near misses for Penn this season. The Quakers, however, managed a dramatic turn of fortunes in their consolation bracket matches at Yale on Saturday and Sunday. Penn took matches against Colby and Bowdoin, claiming fifth place and clinching the consolation bracket of the Hoehn Division. The victories also gave Penn a 13th-place finish at the national tournament -- two spots above its finish in the regular season. The Quakers finished the season with an overall record of 5-10. Brown, which lost to Penn 5-4 earlier in the season, reversed the score in the preliminary match on Friday. The win was Brown's first-ever over Penn in men's squash. Penn was counting on the bottom of its order to support a lineup missing injured sophomore Mukund Khaitan. But it was Penn's top players that carried the load, as the Quakers took matches at the No. 1, 3 and 4 spots. Penn co-captain Peter Withstandley, playing in the No. 1 slot, impressed with a five-game victory over Brown freshman Ben Oliner. Penn sophomore John Griffin, senior co-captain Andrew Hopkins and freshman Sam Miller each took three-game victories for the Quakers. Brown went on to finish the weekend with wins over Navy and Cornell, taking the Hoehn Division and the tournament's No. 9 ranking. "Brown was tough, but they had one of their most difficult matches against us," Penn junior Ritesh Tilani said. Penn managed to regain its composure after being edged Friday, finishing Saturday with a convincing 6-3 win over Colby, which finished the season ranked at No. 11. The key to victory for Penn was a surge by the bottom of its lineup. Although Penn's top three players dropped their matches, the rest of the team managed a sweep. Penn juniors Vicky Singh and Tilani picked up three-game victories for the Quakers, while sophomore Will Ruthrauff and senior Bill Bryan won in five. "We didn't get down after Brown, which was key," said freshman Sam Miller, who was one of two Quakers to win all three matches this weekend. Penn was again the underdog Sunday, facing No. 13 Bowdoin. In what may have been the most exciting match in the division, Bowdoin and Penn were evenly matched at two games apiece after the first set. Hopkins finished his weekend's sweep at the No. 4 spot, claiming his final dual match victory as a Quaker by a 3-1 count. The second set of matches remained a dead heat with Penn and Bowdoin each claiming two more games. Bowdoin senior Jeremy Smith dropped Griffin in four games at the No. 3 spot. Miller needed four games to defeat Bowdoin freshman George Hubbard, while Bryan managed a victory in four games. The match hinged on the No. 1 match between Withstandley and Bowdoin junior Jamie Shea. Withstandley battled back from a 2-1 deficit to clinch the decisive fifth victory for the Quakers. Withstandley, along with several of Penn's other top players, will head to Williams Friday to begin play in the Individuals Tournament. The future looks bright for the Quakers after this season, as Hopkins will be the only regular player to graduate after this season.

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