Penn sophomore Rhea Bhandare probably summarized her squash team's weekend performance best.
"Everybody played really well," Bhandare said of her team, which posted back-to-back 9-0 wins on Saturday over Amherst and Williams.
The Quakers (7-0) remained undefeated by dominating Amherst in a match that included the perfect performance of freshman Radhika Ahluwalia, who won, 9-0, 9-0, 9-0, over the Jeffs' Caroline Shannon.
Freshman Paula Pearson and junior Rohini Gupta also posted impressive wins for the fifth-ranked Quakers, as each player earned a three-game victory while only giving up one point.
Junior captain Linda McNair played three close games in her win in the No. 1 match, while freshman Annie Barrett, sophomores Lorin Riley, Missy Cosgrave, Elizabeth Evans and Bhandare also won their matches.
After defeating Amherst, the Quakers travelled to Williamstown, Mass., to face the seventh-ranked Ephs.
Penn coach Jim Martel was not worried about the team's ability to play two matches in a day, believing that competing earlier in the day created an advantage in preparedness. His team certainly proved him right in its 9-0 victory against the strongest team it has faced all season.
McNair agreed with her coach's view of a second match in one day.
"Amherst was a good warmup for us," she said.
After practicing twice a day over the semester break, the team was ready for a weekend like this.
Martel pointed out two of his players that deserved special recognition for their performances in Saturday's second match.
"I thought Missy [Cosgrave] and Lorin Riley had the toughest games at Williams and played really well," Martel said.
The Amherst and Williams matches were part of the early season trend of playing weaker competition, a trend that will be coming to a sudden halt. Penn still has matches remaining against the top four teams in the nation, Trinity, Yale, Princeton and Harvard, as well as No. 6 Dartmouth.
Although this weekend's competition was not at Penn's level, the Quakers did not take anybody lightly.
"You never know what a team is going to be like that year," McNair said. "I think we go into every game that way."
Despite their upcoming schedule, the Quakers are unafraid to the point of quiet confidence.
"We'll see exactly if they're ready for tough matches," Martel said. "Physically, I think we're ready."
Before the team can even look ahead to those matches, the players must focus on the Constable Tournament, an individual event held at Princeton.
Coach Martel will send his whole team to the tournament, which is broken into skill levels, and used to determine rankings for the individual championship at the end of the year.
On the issue of whether the easy start will have a negative effect on a difficult second half, McNair left little doubt.
"We don't practice thinking that way."
