M. Squash destroys F&M; for 6th shutout

One would think that Penn's men's squash team gets tired of winning so easily.

The Quakers swept Franklin and Marshall on the road last Saturday 9-0, capturing all 27 possible games in the match on the way to their sixth sweep of the season.

Coach Craig Thorpe-Clark was very pleased with his team's overall performance but highlighted No. 1 player Gilly Lane's dedication despite facing a lower-ranked team.

"Gilly was as committed and focused on his match as he ever was," Thorpe-Clark said.

Lane's tremendous effort is particularly admirable as he is accustomed to playing against some of the best players in the world from rival squash powerhouses.

Saturday's match against the Diplomats was surely penciled in as a win for the Quakers, but the team was still just as focused on the match as if it was against Princeton last Wednesday.

Thorpe-Clark also noted the play of junior Jacob Himmelrich, who, like Lane, did not take his match lightly.

Himmelrich prevailed over George Edwards in a match in which Thorpe-Clark noted "fitness was a factor."

While Himmelrich's physical prowess allowed him to outlast the Diplomats' No. 2 player, Penn sophomore Graham Bassett did not have to exert nearly as much effort.

Bassett coasted to an easy victory -- without losing a point in the entire match against Tom Kiefhaber

Bassett's victory was particularly notable because he stepped in to take the place of fellow Quakers who were still feeling under the weather.

"This match gave me an opportunity to give some guys some match experience," Thorpe-Clark said of his decision to alter the regular starting lineup on Saturday.

The Quakers were able to dominate despite the shuffling of players simply because of their depth as a team.

Penn has 17 players who could potentially compete in just the nine spots on the ladder.

Thorpe-Clark attributed the decisive win to both this fact as well as his team's overall consistency throughout the season.

The Quakers have had an outstanding campaign thus far. They have climbed from the No. 7 ranked team in the country to No. 4, an unlikely occurrence in the world of squash where upsets are as rare as Philadelphia sports titles.

Their 7-3 record includes the six sweeps, with losses only coming against stronger teams in Yale, Princeton, and Trinity teams. The Bantams and the Elis are ranked first and third respectively and although Princeton is currently ranked below Penn, the Tigers were clearly the superior team in Princeton, N.J. last Wednesday.

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