Men's tennis co-captain Brandon O'Gara still has painful memories of last year's heartbreaking losses to Columbia that kept Penn out of the NCAA tournament.
"It was awful. It was a tough way to go out," he said.
And while the Quakers (12-9, 3-2 Ivy) may be effectively out of the Ivy League championship race this year, those losses are plenty of motivation when they finish the season at home against the Lions on Sunday.
"Playing them again in the last match of the year is definitely going to be exciting," O'Gara said.
This year, Columbia (8-6, 3-2 Ivy) and Penn are once again neck-and-neck in the conference standings, but this time they are tied for third place.
"Columbia is a big rival of ours," Penn coach Nik DeVore said. "I think it's just an added incentive because they beat us twice last year."
But DeVore said that he has not yet talked about exacting revenge against Columbia because his team cannot afford to overlook today's road matchup against last place Cornell (6-11, 1-4 Ivy).
"I think [the Big Red] are more dangerous than their record [would indicate] because they beat Dartmouth, who was really very close to beating us," DeVore said. "And they lost 4-3 to [first-place] Harvard, so that shows that on a given day, especially at home, they're tough ."
Penn has battled injuries all season, but this weekend they should be at full strength except for junior Jonathan Boym, who has been out with a shoulder injury.
"[Boym] will be evaluated after the season to try to get ready for next year, but everybody else is good to go," DeVore said.
For Penn's seniors - O'Gara, Jason Pinsky, Joseph Lok and Eric Riley - these last two matches will be especially emotional because they will likely mark the end of their college careers.
"It's tough losing all those guys," DeVore said. "They've contributed a lot the last four years.
"I think it's going to be a tough situation after the match is over. The [seniors] have had great careers here, so I think it's going to be emotional for them."
Although the quartet would have liked to have left with a third-straight Ivy League title, O'Gara said he has enjoyed his career at Penn regardless.
"Playing tennis for four years at college is something that not everyone gets to do, but I had a lot of fun doing it," O'Gara said. "We got two Ivy League titles . we'd love to get another one, but unfortunately it doesn't look like it's going to happen. It's been good times."
