Top-ranked Bantams beat overmatched Quakers

When the Penn squash team took on the top-ranked team in the nation, a handful of the fans cheering on the Quakers knew what the team was going through.

Trinity, the most dominant squash power in the nation, invaded the Ringe Courts on Friday, and several members of the men's basketball team showed up to support the Quakers.

But as Penn went toe to toe with Trinity, there was little that Mark Zoller and Eric Osmundson -- who faced down the top basketball team in the land in December -- could do.

The Quakers' men's squash team could not stop the No. 1 Bantams from extending their unprecedented win streak to 133 games with a 9-0 victory over the No. 6 Quakers, who dropped to 6-3.

Trinity (9-0) may be accustomed to shutting out their opponents, but even though Penn won only three of thirty sets, it was not just a doormat for the Bantams.

"I'm not necessarily outcome-oriented with this," coach Craig Thorpe-Clark said. "The scores don't reflect the closeness of the match."

After seven consecutive national championships, Trinity has made it hard for opposing teams to go into the match hoping for a win.

With an international recruiting class that is consistently comprised of the top junior players in the world, the Bantams look less like a team from a small Connecticut college and more like a worldwide all-star team.

Trinity's top six hail from four different continents, and none are from North America.

Although it may give them a leg up on their competition, the Bantams' extensive recruiting is not the entire story.

"They're fit, they hit the ball well, they're smart," said senior captain Jacob Himmelrich, who lost the closest match of the day 2-3.

It "really opened our eyes to what we need to do the next week or two," Himmelrich added.

It would be easy for such a one-sided match to take the wind out of the Quakers' sails, but team members say they are taking it in stride.

Even after being shut out by a freshman from the No. 1 flight, junior captain Gilly Lane refused to look at the negative.

"It's really going to push us to get better, make us work harder," Lane said. "It shows us where we are."

After a string of matches against weaker teams, Penn may ultimately find that -a loss against a strong opponent was just what they needed.

"It can push you," Himmelrich said. "It makes you do things you didn't think you could."

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