Through their first three matches, the women's squash team had lost just three of 27 individual matches. This weekend, they were even better.
The No. 2 Quakers traveled up to Massachusetts and Connecticut, blowing out No. 7 Williams and No. 17 Amherst on Saturday and No. 12 Bowdoin one day later. Penn won its matches by a total of 26-1.
The already-undefeated Quakers showed no sign of fatigue kicking off their difficult second-half schedule just after a 10-day trip to Cape Town, South Africa.
"My primary concern coming off of last week was that the team was pretty run-down and tired," Coach Jack Wyant said. "I just wanted to make sure that we got off to a good start to the second half of the season."
The team did exactly that. The only loss came at the hands of Williams' No. 1 player, who defeated Penn's Sydney Scott.
After finishing the Williams match with the only individual loss of the weekend, each of the nine Quakers defeated her fellow Amherst player three games to none, allowing the Lord Jeffs just 17 points in the entire match. Alisha Turner, Emily Goodwin and Christina Matthias did not lose a single point, claiming straight set victories of 9-0, 9-0, 9-0.
Much of the same happened on Sunday, as the team swept Bowdoin 9-0. This time, Goodwin had to settle for a 9-0, 9-0, 9-1 triumph.
"I was pleased with the way they played," said Wyant. "I think that we have played some very talented teams and beaten them."
Senior co-captain Lauralynn Drury summed up her team's mood after two days of domination.
"The weekend was great," she said. "It was so much fun and the mentality around the locker room is pure excitement and having fun and looking forward to the rest of the season."
But she also said that, despite the nearly-perfect road trip, the Red and Blue have not reached the top of their game.
"We treat every match as an opportunity to improve our game," Drury said.
"Even in matches where the competition might not be as high as others, we still have a lot to work on and improve upon."
Wyant agreed and chose not to dwell on his players' impressive numbers.
"The ultimate goal is for us to continue to play our best each time we go out, to work hard to improve every practice," he said. "Our focus is more on executing the game plan than it is winning or losing. My opinion is that if we do that, the wins will take care of themselves."
