Nine stings for men's squash

This was not how the men's squash team hoped to end the regular season.

Last week, the No. 7 Quakers had reason to celebrate after a narrow loss to No. 5 Harvard and a thrilling comeback victory over No. 8 Dartmouth. After a crushing 9-0 loss to No. 6 Rochester yesterday, though, that momentum is gone and Penn must regroup heading into the national team championships this weekend.

"We were on a high after that good performance last weekend," coach Craig Thorpe-Clark said. "This was a let down. We all wanted to continue that, but there were other factors that got into it and as a result the performance was disappointing."

Chief among those factors were players absent from the lineup due to injuries and illnesses. Junior Mark Froot, who last week played at the No. 4 slot and has played as high as No. 1 this season, missed the match, as did Penn's No. 7 from last week, sophomore Porter Drake. Interestingly, those two won the final two matches against Dartmouth to give the Quakers the 5-4 victory.

Because of the absences, numerous players on the roster had to play out of position in the ladder, lining them up against more skilled opponents. And the Yellowjackets made easy work of it, winning all but one match 3-0.

"We weren't at full strength and that clearly changed how well and how competitive we could be," Thorpe-Clark said. "A few people were not available, and in squash sometimes a little difference can make a lot of a difference."

The only member of the Quakers who showed enough of a fight was freshman Akhilesh Nayak, who took the first game from Rochester's Yohay Wakabayashi before dropping the next three in a row. And senior Parker Justi pushed his opponent in the first two games, falling 10-8 and 10-9 before dropping the third decisively.

The challenge that awaits the Quakers for the coming week is how to turn a tough loss into a positive for the upcoming team championships. Positioned at No. 7 - if the rankings do not change - Penn is likely to face No. 2 Princeton. And seeing as the Tigers dominated the Red and Blue earlier this season, intangibles will be necessary if they hope to pull off a shocking upset. And if they can't, a rematch against Harvard or Rochester may await them in the fifth-place matchup.

"The result was not a positive, but it's one of those things that is good intrinsic motivation," Thorpe-Clark said. "We didn't play our best, but now is the time to play our best and step it up for the final weekend."

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