M. Squash splits in Amherst

The Penn men's squash team traveled to Amherst with aspirations of picking up two victories and a move up in the national rankings.

A pair of wins were not in the cards for the Quakers on Saturday, however, as Penn followed up a 5-4 victory over Amherst with a 8-1 loss to Williams.

Despite falling short of its goals, Penn (5-5) results cannot be deemed a failure.

Kicking off the weekend, the Quakers recorded a strong performance against Amherst -- capturing a victory that Penn was expected to win.

Leading the way for the Quakers was freshman No. 1 Rich Repetto, who won handedly in three games. A fellow freshman No. 5 Andrew Crockett and junior Sam Miller also won in three.

Sophomore Jason Lam won 3-1 at the No. 7 spot, and freshman No. 8 Sean Lambert prevailed 3-2.

After edging out a win over the Lord Jeffs, the Quakers quickly jumped into their second match of the day against Williams.

Although the final 8-1 margin seemed to indicate a blowout victory, the second match score does not reflect how close the competition really was.

Two of the matches against the Ephs were extended to five games -- while the other seven matches went to four.

"The match could have gone either way on any other day," Repetto said.

"We played them tough at the bottom of the ladder," junior co-captain Elan Levy said.

Repetto picked up the only Penn victory against Williams, defeating senior Win Tangjaitrong. The win, a two hour, five-game match, upped Repetto's record to 8-0 on the season.

The Quakers do not return to action until this Saturday when they take on the No. 1 team in the country, Trinity College (Conn).

Highlighting this weekend's match will be a battle at the No.1 spot.

Penn's undefeated freshman, Repetto, will take on Trinity's Bernardo Samper. Samper, a freshman from Bogota, Colombia, is currently the top player in the nation.

"Saturday is a major match," Repetto said. "Trinity is a strong opponent. It will be one of the biggest matches of the year for me."

While the Quakers are anxious to take on Trinity this upcoming weekend, they understand that they must remain focused on all of their opponents for the remainder of the season.

"We're not preparing for Trinity this week during practice; we're getting ready for the rest of the season," said Levy. "Beyond Trinity, Dartmouth is the next team in our sights. That will be a big match."

The Red and Blue will use their upcoming matches to avenge this weekend's loss, hoping to find another way to climb up the national rankings.

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