Freshman Radhika Ahluwalia took the court Sunday afternoon for the Penn women's squash team's final team match of the year. The score was tied, 4-4, between the Quakers and Dartmouth.
Responding to the pressure, Ahluwalia easily defeated the Big Green's Kelly Sennatt, 9-2, 9-7, 9-5, to give the Red and Blue the win and a fifth-place finish at the season-ending Howe Cup in New Haven, Conn.
The final event of the season, the individual championships, is in two weeks.
On Friday, the fifth-seeded Quakers dropped their first round match, 6-3, in a rematch with No. 4 Harvard. The teams were tied at 3-3, but the Crimson won the final three matches for the victory. The Red and Blue had lost in Boston earlier in the season, but failed in their quest for revenge.
"I'm a little disappointed we didn't beat Harvard because we were so close," Penn coach Jim Martel said.
The Quakers won games in three of the five matches they lost to the Crimson, including Ahluwalia's defeat in five games to Harvard's Lydia Williams after having a 2-1 lead.
"A couple of unlucky shots could have made the difference," Penn junior captain Linda McNair said.
Despite the emotional letdown on Friday, the Quakers responded to rout Williams College, 9-0, on Saturday, losing only one game, to advance to the fifth- place game -- the thriller over Dartmouth. Penn had previously defeated both of those teams.
"They really came to play ... they held their emotions in check" after losing to Harvard, Martel said.
Just as the Quakers tried to dial up the intensity against the higher-seeded Crimson in their rematch, the Ephs and the Big Green showed more superior effort against Penn this weekend than in their respective first meetings.
"They played a lot tougher against us," Martel said.
On an individual level, sophomores Rhea Bhandare at No. 5 and Lorin Riley at No. 7 went a perfect 3-0 on the weekend for Penn.
The tournament was won by the No. 1 seed, Yale, which also won the regular season national championship. The Elis defeated No. 2 Trinity, 5-4, for the second time this year to win the Howe Cup. Every one of the 12 matches in the Howe Cup's A Division was won by the higher-seeded team.
Penn's team is a very young one, losing only one player -- Daphna Wegner -- to graduation. There are three freshmen and five sophomores on the roster, and the captain is a junior.
"I think the experience that everyone gathered over the weekend will go a long way" toward the Quakers' prospects next year, Martel said.
If Ahluwalia's resolve under pressure is any indication of the resiliency of the team, the Quakers are in good shape for 2004-05.
