The early-season success of the Penn women's squash team has not -- as the line scores may suggest -- been a total walk in the park. The Quakers have worked hard for their victories, and their effort has paid off.
Coming off of twin 9-0 demolitions of Franklin & Marshall and Haverford, the Red and Blue faced their first tests of the season against Cornell and the University of Toronto last Saturday.
The Quakers aced both, dominating the Big Red 9-0 on their home courts and earning a hard-fought 8-1 victory over the Varsity Blues -- a feat even more impressive because that match started a mere 90 minutes after the conclusion of the Cornell match.
Penn (4-0, 1-0 Ivy League) lost only one game in nine matches to Cornell (0-2, 0-1), as sophomore Melissa Cosgrave defeated Jamie Singer 3-1. The other eightmatches were all 3-0 sweeps for the Quakers.
Against Toronto (3-2, 2-0 Ontario University Athletics), the matches were much more competitive, as two of the top five matches went the full five games. Toronto's Izuni Matsuda handed the Quakers their first match loss of the year as she defeated junior All-American Linda McNair, 10-8, 9-6, 9-7, in a match-up of the teams' top players.
Throughout the season, Penn coach Jim Martel has been stressing fitness during practices and has made it the prime concern for the year.
His focus paid off in a big way for the Red and Blue, as they had three comeback victories over the Varsity Blues, including 3-2 victories by sophomore No. 4 Rhea Bhandare and freshman No. 5 Annie Barrett after trailing two games to none. Each was one point away from defeat in the third game of their respective matches.
Martel and the Quaker players all attribute their ability to stay in matches and wear down their opponents to their hard work in practice.
"A big part definitely is fitness," freshman Radhika Ahluwalia said.
Fellow freshman Paula Pearson added that the training really showed "during the long rallies."
The Quakers will look to continue their early-season success when they take on No. 3 Yale at home on December 6.
