For the Penn men's squash team, this weekend's matches against Yale and Brown represent stepping stones, as the Quakers look to climb up the national rankings this season.
The Red and Blue (0-2) face two very different opponents in the Elis and the Bears.
The Elis finished last season ranked No. 3 in the country and should be among the top two teams in the Ivy League this season, according to Penn coach Craig Thorpe-Clark. The team's greatest strength is its depth.
"They're very good top and bottom," Penn freshman Rich Repetto said. "Their No. 5 through 9 are probably the best in the Ivy League, so throughout the line-up everyone is going to have a good match."
Meanwhile, the Bears and the Quakers are closely matched, with Penn having edged Brown 5-4 -- the deciding match coming down to the fifth game -- in each of the last two years.
"Our goal this season is to move into the 'A' bracket [made up of the country's top eight teams] at nationals," Penn senior co-captain John Griffin said. "We know Yale is going to be in the top eight. Brown was ranked ninth or 10th last year, so it's crucial that we beat them in order to do that."
The Quakers played both teams three weeks ago at the Ivy Scrimmage at Yale.
The Elis pulled out an 8-1 victory while the Quakers defeated the Bears 7-2. However, the Quakers aren't about to assume those numbers are indicative of what to expect this weekend.
"We can't just rest on [our victory over Brown] just because we beat them handily at the Ivy Scrimmage," Repetto said. "We need to step it up."
Thorpe-Clark adds that there are some differences between this weekend's matches and the matches earlier this season.
"I'd love to win both matches but we have to be realistic," Thorpe-Clark said. "Brown was undermanned a bit [at the Ivy Scrimmage]. Yale swapped up their team a bit since then so I'm expecting them to be stronger."
But the Quakers hope that the home-court advantage will help sway this weekend's outcome in their favor.
"Playing at home means we have more things in our control," Thorpe-Clark said. "We should be able to play our best squash here."
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