Ivy opponents too much for W. Squash

Lack of experience can often lead to lack of wins in Ivy League competition, and the Penn women's squash team is no exception to the rule.

Sporting a young and inexperienced squad, the Penn women's squash team fell twice to their Ivy League foes this weekend, losing to Yale and Brown, 8-1, in two separate matches.

The Quakers faced a strong Yale squad on the Ringe Courts on Saturday. Though injured number two player sophomore Daphna Wegner returned for a single match, the sophomoric Quakers were unable to pull out a win.

Wegner was the team's lone winner, triumphing over Yale sophomore Devon Dalzell.

Yesterday, the Red and Blue once again found themselves pitted against a top Ivy foe. The majority of the matches against Brown were very competitive, but the Quakers could only come up with one win. Penn's No. 1 freshman Linda McNair defeated Brown freshman Lillian Rosenthal in three sets.

"I think we all are playing really hard and are playing the points," sophomore Emily Becker-Weidman said. "We are trying to keep our heads in the the game and are definitely fighting.

"We couldn't have played any harder. By no means are the scores of the matches reflections of how we played."

Becker-Weidman attributes the team's Ivy troubles to a lack of seniority.

"We're a very young team," Becker-Weidman said. "So we're getting more comfortable playing under the stress of the matches."

Penn coach Jim Martel agrees that with more time on the court, the team will improve.

"I think a lot of it has to do with their [lack of experience in] game competition," Martel said. "[They need] to try to keep their emotions in check.

Penn's rookies also believe that their records will get better as the season progresses.

"Just give us a few more matches," freshman Rohini Gupta said. "And I think we can beat them again."

The return to the lineup of No. 1 Runa Reta and No. 2 Wegner should help the Quakers in the second half of the season.

"It's going to help the whole team," Martel said. "We should be competitive for the second half of the season."

The Quakers will not compete again until next semester.

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