While most others in the city of Philadelphia devoted this weekend to preparing for Sunday's big game, the Penn men's squash team was focused on its own agenda.
The Quakers played three home matches in three days -- they beat Williams College on Friday night 6-3, fell to Harvard 8-1 on Saturday, and finished the weekend with a hard-fought 5-4 victory over Dartmouth on Sunday morning.
These matches also served as the main events around which the Penn squash reunion weekend was scheduled. So when the alumni were not participating in the two round-robin tournaments scheduled for Saturday, they got a chance to see the Quakers in action against some of the nation's top teams.
First up was No. 10 Williams, which came out eager to prove themselves worthy of playing with the No. 4 Quakers. Their best players, however, were no match for Penn's, as the Ephs lost matches at the top five spots.
Penn coach Craig Thorpe-Clark noted that "the score line suggested it was easy, but the match was actually pretty tough physically."
On Saturday, the Quakers found themselves on the other side, struggling to compete with No. 2 Harvard. The Crimson were dominant in most matches, allowing only four to go more than three games.
While seeds two to six, were defeated 3-0, No. 1 Gilly Lane forced his opponent Michael Blumberg to go to five sets before losing a 90-minute classic.
So even in the loss, there were positives.
"We can challenge them, and we challenged them more than we ever have in the the past," Thorpe-Clark said. "But they still took the match, and that's why they're seeded second."
Yesterday was not as tough of a challenge for Penn, but defeating Dartmouth, 5-4, was no easy task.
Among the victorious was senior Rich Repetto, who quickly disposed of his opponent in three sets at the No. 2 spot.
"I was really hitting all of my shots today, just feeling and playing great," Repetto said. "But I felt bad for my opponent, who said he was suffering from some cramps."
There is not much on the horizon for the Quakers; they will be taking a little time off to prepare for the upcoming Team Championships.
