The success of the Penn women's squash team came to a crashing halt over the weekend. Overcome by inexperience, the Quakers lost their season-opening match at Cornell, 7-2.
Aside from the losses of All-American teammates Helen Bamber, Lauren Patrizio and Rina Borromeo, Penn also played two women down. Junior Runa Reta, who was named first team All-American last year, is studying abroad in Australia, while sophomore Daphna Wegner is nursing an injured leg.
"We are playing two positions up," freshman Linda McNair said. "We need to go out and do what we can and hope it gets better when the other two get back."
McNair assumed Penn's top spot for the weekend and lost, 9-0, 9-3, 9-0, to Cornell's Olga Puigdemont Sola.
"Although we didn't do as well [as a team] as we wanted do, [as individuals] we all played well," McNair said. "Our finishing touches just need more correction."
Senior Alex Black and freshman Hanna Yoon, Penn's No. 5 and No. 6 seeds, notched the Red and Blue's only victories.
With the exception of sophomore Katie Fetter, who won one game at the No. 4 spot, the remainder of the team lost in straight sets.
"It's tough being mostly freshmen and sophomores playing against a team with more experience," Penn freshman Clare O'Connor said. "I thought we'd win more games.
"[The freshmen] are not used to playing intercollegiate squash. It's a mental thing, too."
In last year's season opener, Penn edged Cornell, 5-4.
--Alex Eppstein M. Squash falls to national powers
Faced with a tough challenge this past weekend in Ithaca, N.Y., the Penn men's squash team was hoping to rise up to the tough level of competition.
However, playing against No. 5 Cornell and No. 6 Western Ontario, the Quakers were routed.
In their Ivy League opener against the Big Red, the Red and Blue were defeated, 7-2, following up a morning defeat at the hands of Western Ontario, 7-1.
Coming into the matches, the Quakers expected a tough challenge from the top-ranked squads.
"We knew going in they were going to be pretty solid," Penn senior captain Elan Levy said. "We needed our best performance to pull it out."
The Quakers, however, did not get that performance. Only two of their players won matches on the day -- Jon Katz and Richard Repetto.
Penn coach Craig Thorpe-Clark feels that the team played much too passively in its first matches of the year.
"We need to be a little more assertive on the court," he said. "We need to step up and compete harder."
The team is looking to use these matches as motivation to continue on during the season.
"It was a little disappointing that the scores were not closer," Penn captain John Griffin said. "But it gives us a good idea of what we have to work on and where we want to be by the end of the year."
This was the first varsity match for Repetto, the Quakers freshman No. 1. Stepping right into a leadership role on the team, he defeated Cornell No. 1 Tim Nagel.
Clark noted an improvement in Repetto's performance from his first match against Western Ontario to his second match of the day against Cornell. He was especially pleased since other teams' best are trying to defeat the Red and Blue's freshman phenom.
"Guys are trying their best against him," Clark said. "[They're] showing him their stuff."
--Ted Rosenbaum
