W. Squash places three at Individuals

One of the more rousing ovations at yesterday's Penn rout of Princeton in men's basketball had nothing to do with an alley-oop or a blocked shot. Instead, during a second-half timeout, nearly all Penn supporters in the sellout crowd of 8,722 put their hands together for the extraordinary accomplishments of the Penn women's squash team. Coach Demer Holleran's squad, the first-ever Ivy League and national champions in the history of women's squash at Penn, marched onto the court, where they received the Howe Cup from Athletic Director Steve Bilsky. The Quakers secured the national championship trophy on February 20, by beating Princeton, 5-4, in the Howe Cup finals so, naturally, most of those wearing orange in the crowd remained seated. The Red and Blue put just a dab more of icing on their history-making campaign this past weekend at the Individual Championships at Yale. Although Penn was by no means dominant at the competition, senior co-captain Katie Patrick and freshman Runa Reta both made it to the quarterfinals, while junior Lauren Patrizio captured the consolation bracket championship. Patrick, the tournament's No. 6 seed, made it to the quarters with relative ease. She beat Lindsey Bishop of Dartmouth in the first round and Harvard's Colby Hall in the round of 32. She won each by scores of 9-5, 9-1 and 9-1. Patrick then went on to beat Bowdoin's Dana Betts in straight games to reach the quarters. There she bowed out of competition with a loss to Princeton junior and defending national champ Julia Beaver in four tightly contested games. Beaver went on to take the title on Sunday. Reta was stellar in her first try at the individual crown. She dropped merely seven points in six games in the first two rounds. Particularly impressive was her 3-0 drubbing of Princeton's Liz Kelley to gain safe passage into the quarterfinals. Once there, Reta suffered a nip-and-tuck 3-2 loss to Yale's Laura Keating, who was the runner-up this past weekend. Patrizio, who has been hobbled by knee injuries all season, won her first match in New Haven, 9-3, 9-2, 9-3, over Abigail Drachman-Jones of Dartmouth, before dropping a four-gamer to Harvard's Carlin Wing in the round of 32. Her tournament was far from over, however. She won her next two matches, 3-1 and 3-0, to reach the consolation semifinals. There she bested Sarah West of Dartmouth in straight games. In the consolation finals, Patrizio recovered from a two-games-to-none deficit to score 9-6, 9-1 and 9-5 wins in a stirring comeback that added a little extra luster to an already sparkling season.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.