The women’s squash team faces arguably its biggest challenge of the season tomorrow.
The funny thing is, they aren’t worried about it.
Their opponent, No. 2 Trinity, is on a roll. Only a hard-fought tussle with Yale Wednesday, ending 5-4 to the Bantams (7-0), threatened to blemish their perfect season record.
Furthermore, Trinity’s Nour Bahgat of Egypt beat Penn co-captain Kristen Lange in the final of the College Squash Association individual championships last year.
None of this seems to bother the other Quakers captain, Sydney Scott.
“If we don’t beat Trinity, hey, we lost to a great team,” she said, stressing her own side’s abilities. “It’s pretty rare I think for a team to have everybody, one through nine, playing really well.”
Scott’s mood is understandable. The No. 3 Quakers (9-0) remain undefeated in 2009-10 and enter tomorrow’s match on a six-game shutout streak.
And during their trip to California earlier this month, the Red and Blue bested Stanford, which coach Jack Wyant called “without a doubt the best team on the West Coast.”
Scott identified the victory over the Cardinal as a turning point in the season.
“We lost a few games, which shows how tough of a match it was,” she emphasized. “But the fact that we played that match so well and beat that strong team 9-0 gives us a lot of confidence going into the weekend.”
A few Quakers have also been busy outside of college meets.
Lange skipped last week’s outings against Williams and Amherst to compete in the largely professional Women’s Liberty Bell Squash Open in Berwyn, Pa., along with Scott and freshman Yarden Odinak. Lange was the only Penn player to advance out of the qualifiers before succumbing to eventual tournament winner Amanda Sobhy.
Penn’s commanding double victory in Massachusetts this Saturday against Williams and Amherst demonstrated that there is plenty of talent elsewhere in the squad, exemplified by freshman Nabilla Ariffin’s victory over Williams’ Toby Eyre while playing in Lange’s top spot. Last year Eyre was ranked No. 3 in the nation.
“I was really happy to have won that match,” Ariffin said, “but I knew that going in there was no pressure because I have really great teammates.”
“No pressure” seems to be the prevailing attitude among the Quakers.
Indeed, Ariffin implied that if anything the team is treating the Trinity match as a warm-up for the Ivy encounters left on the schedule.
“That’s going to be a good stepping point to see how well we prepare for Harvard and Princeton,” she remarked.
The record shows that the Quakers’ optimism is not unfounded. Penn has beaten Trinity in the regular season in each of the last two years, and Wyant is confident that even if the Bantams buck the trend, the Red and Blue will not be out of the running.
“Two years ago Princeton lost to us and Trinity in the regular season and won the postseason tournament, the Howe Cup,” he said. “I think we have enough talent to beat anyone.”
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