Victories are rarely as thorough as the one the Penn women's squash team achieved to open its season.
The Quakers, ranked fourth in the nation, defeated Franklin & Marshall, 9-0, at the Ringe Courts yesterday.
While all nine players won their matches, even more telling of Penn's dominance were the final scores of these victories.
In the nine best-of-five matches, the Red and Blue (1-0) took 27 games, while Franklin & Marshall (1-1) managed only one. The overall points margin for the day was an equally staggering 248-40.
Despite the numbers, Penn coach Jim Martel believes his players still have a long way to go as the season continues.
"We have to work on our return of serve," Martel said, adding that his team's shot selection was not flawless.
In the No. 1 match, Penn sophomore Rhea Bhandare struggled against Freddy McNeely, splitting the first two games before prevailing, 9-5, 4-9, 9-5, 9-3.
Penn, playing a clearly overmatched opponent, had the opportunity to save some of its top players, including junior Linda McNair and senior Dafna Wegner.
Yesterday's match was the first for Penn's freshmen, led by Annie Barrett, who dominated the Diplomats' Jessie Mitchell, 9-2, 9-0, 9-3, in the No. 2 match.
Barrett, who will most likely play around the No. 5 position when the stronger players return to the lineup, was generally pleased with her first match in a Penn uniform.
However, she added, "There's always room for improvement," and wants to be playing her best squash when Ivy League play begins Nov. 22 at Cornell.
The three through nine players for the Quakers had no problems with their opponents. Sophomores Lorin Riley, Melissa Cosgrave, Elizabeth Evans, Colleen Gurda, Tyler Pearce -- who is also a Daily Pennsylvanian reporter -- and juniors Rohini Gupta and Caitlin O'Neil went 7-0, losing only 14 points in their 21 games.
The season will get tougher for the Quakers, as Ivy League play has already proven to be a challenge.
Penn traveled to Dartmouth on Nov. 1 to participate in the Ivy League scrimmages. The Quakers went 2-3, beating Cornell and Brown, and losing to Princeton, Yale and Harvard.
"It gave us a pretty good idea of how we sit in the Ivy League," Martel said. "We're young and I think we're going to improve as the season goes on."
That improvement comes from not only competing against other teams but also against teammates as squash's ladder system provides the opportunity for challenge matches. These matches between teammates, held roughly biweekly, will be used to determine the rankings for the intercollegiate matches.
Barrett believes the Quakers will be able to handle all of the competition.
"Our team has a really good work ethic this year," she said.
Penn will try to reproduce yesterday's success when it takes the court against Haverford at Ringe Courts on Wednesday.
