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W. Hoops heads to N.Y. for last roadtrip

(03/07/03 10:00am)

It will be a long goodbye for the Penn women's basketball team's four seniors over the next five days. Jenn Jones, Sunny Pitrof, Tara Twomey and Ima Abia will play their last three games in Penn colors over spring break, beginning with Columbia tonight in New York, followed by Cornell tomorrow in Ithaca, N.Y. Their last game will be against Princeton on Wednesday at the Palestra. "It starts to be an emotional time, not only for the four seniors but for everyone else on the team," Penn coach Kelly Greenberg said. "You just start realizing that you're down to your last few practices as a true team." Greenberg admitted that her squad is "somewhat sentimental," noting that halfway through today's practice, one of the seniors lamented it being their last such time together in Weightman Gym. "They came in the same time as I did to Penn," she said. "My first four years have been with them, and we really grew a lot together." Greenberg had kind words about all of her graduating players. She called Pitrof "the ultimate teammate. If I were in college today, she would be one of the first people I would pick as one of my teammates." Greenberg praised Abia for her leadership and for being "a strong individual." "I always talk to our team about being a team with a personality, and Ima has really helped us do that," Greenberg said. On Jones, Greenberg noted her personality and strong presence on the team. "She's contributed so much to this program that we will definitely miss her," she said. The Quakers will also lose the services of Twomey, the team's three-year starting point guard who also holds the distinction of being Greenberg's first recruit. Twomey leads the team with 4.9 assists per game. "I've been the toughest on her," Greenberg said, singling out her "quality of just hating to lose." Greenberg knows that the Lions, Big Red and Tigers will combine to form a daunting end to the the Quakers' season. "We stole one from [Columbia] at our place," Greenberg said of a 57-56 win on Feb. 8, "so we know that they are going to be extremely hungry and ready for our game." Greenberg noted that Columbia has three contributing players over six feet tall and a talented perimeter player in guard Sue Altman, who leads the Lions with 17 points per game this season. For the Big Red, Greenberg's focus will be on junior Karen Force, who leads Cornell with 19.3 points per game, the fourth-highest total in the Ivy League. "It's been a good couple of weeks since we won two in one weekend," Greenberg said of the task at hand for the team's Empire State trip. "We've got to win both, we can't just be content with getting a win [tonight]." Even if the game against Princeton were not on Senior Night, there would still be plenty of motivation for the Quakers to win Wednesday. The Red and Blue lost at Jadwin Gymnasium earlier this season in what Greenberg called "our worst game of the season." "All I am going to tell the seniors is that we are playing Princeton," she said. "Let's just get out on the floor and beat them."

https://www.thedp.com/article/2003/03/w-hoops-heads-to-n-y-for-last-roadtrip

A wicked googly

(03/04/03 10:00am)

At the Graduate Student Center over the last few weeks, hundreds of students have been raising their voices over an issue about which they are passionate more than any other. But this has nothing to do with a union -- unless you count the Union Jack. This is the Cricket World Cup, and for cricket fans across campus, the GSC has become a second home recently, especially for Penn's large South Asian community. The interest has been so high that the GSC has been selling $4 tickets for matches that start as early as 3 a.m., Philadelphia time -- and selling out. It has been quite a week for the Indian team's supporters. Wednesday, India beat England decisively in a key match for both teams. Saturday, they won a thrilling match against their biggest rival, next-door neighbor -- Pakistan. Wednesday was not a good day to be an England supporter at the GSC. India's star batsman, Sachin Tendulkar -- the country's equivalent of Michael Jordan -- scored 50 of India's 250 runs on the day, including eight "fours," when a batsman hits the ball over the field boundary on the ground, and one "six," cricket's equivalent of a home run. Each smash of the ball brought loud cheers from the overwhelmingly pro-India crowd. Life got even better for India's supporters when England came to bat. The climax came when India bowler (think pitcher) Ashish Nehra dismissed two of England's best players, captain Nasser Hussain and Alec Stewart, on successive balls. The GSC erupted in cheers, with many Indian fans pointing both index fingers towards the ceiling to mimic the umpire's signal for "out." Consider the reaction one would find at a bar in South Boston from Pedro Martinez striking out Derek Jeter and Alfonso Soriano in consecutive at-bats in a playoff game. It was about as close to the Palestra's atmosphere as one could get from 100 people at a midweek lunch hour. "The anti-doping unit should be alerted immediately," wrote England's The Guardian newspaper of Nehra's performance, the third-best of all time in the World Cup. "A cricketer surely could face suspension for having traces of a performance-enhancing drug in his name." But the biggest match of all came Saturday morning. "When India and Pakistan play each other, it's a pretty big thing," said Bharat Khumar, an India supporter. "The obsession that people have with cricket is much greater than anything that can be comparable in the United States." "It doesn't happen that often, and besides, South Asians are generally just emotional people," said Sana Jaffrey, a Pakistan supporter who lives across the hall from Kumar in Hill College House. Cricket is "just one of those things we get emotional about," she added. "It's been ingrained over lots and lots of years." And with passions running high, nearly 150 people jammed the GSC as many basketball fans headed home to sleep off the win over Brown scarcely six hours earlier. "We started setting up the place at eight o'clock," said Anita Mastroieni, the director of the Graduate Student Center. "We were done at 10 o'clock setting up so that we could all get about three hours of sleep and then reopen at two." "This is the first time and hopefully the only time I'll ever sleep at the Graduate Student Center," she said. Surrounded by the cold Philadelphia night, all eyes were fixed on the satellite feed from sunny Supersport Park in Centurion, South Africa, projected on a big screen at the front of the GSC's main room. "Cricket is a religion for the people in India," said Annapurna Valluri, an India supporter who checked tickets at the door. "That's why they'd be here. "Especially against Pakistan." Pakistan batted first and recorded an impressive total of 273 runs, a high number for the "one-day international" or ODI format used at the World Cup. Buoyed by 100 runs off the bat of Saeed Anwar, otherwise known as a "century," -- the high benchmark for individual batting in a cricket match -- Pakistan set a formidable but not unreachable goal for India to aim at in their turn at bat. "It was a great innings," said Ahmad Zeeshan, a Pakistan supporter. Then came India's innings. Then came Tendulkar. He strode confidently to the middle of the field and stared down Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar, widely regarded as the world's fastest bowler. One ball, one swing, one roar -- Tendulkar put his first ball well over the boundary for a four, raising the overwhelming majority of India supporters out of their seats with chants of "ooh, aah, Tendulkar." Another four came, and then, for added emphasis, India's superstar blasted a six into the sea of Indian flags with a swing that Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa would have been proud of. The runs were coming in droves and the Indian supporters were in a frenzy. The TV commentators described the situation as "bowling to a cannon that was firing from both ends." "Sachin, your mama loves you," one India supporter said, wary of Tendulkar's tendency to start swinging for the proverbial fences, a move as risky in cricket as it is in baseball. "Take it easy." He need not have worried, though. Tendulkar ended the day with 98 of India's 274 runs, propelling his country to its biggest win of the tournament and a place in the second round. "Brilliant," said Gupta as the match ended. "Tendulkar is one of the greatest ever seen in one-day internationals." Gupta praised the opposition as well. "I would understand that when they scored 273 they would really like their chances," he said. "But on this day [India] just took the game away from them." All in all, it was a great day for cricket, and for Penn's large South Asian population, which got to celebrate their passion among friends and the comforts of their new home. "If you ask anyone here," Gupta said. "They couldn't have asked for anything more."

https://www.thedp.com/article/2003/03/a_wicked_googly

M. Squash sends three to individual champs

(02/27/03 10:00am)

It is a testament to the No. 9 Penn men's squash team's success this season that a freshman will be one of three players at this weekend's Individual Championships at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. Freshman Jacob Himmelrich will join sophomore Richard Repetto in the top flight, while senior co-captain Sam Miller will represent the Red and Blue in the lower bracket. "I've been very happy with how I've been playing lately," Himmelrich said. "If I can continue having good results, especially getting off to a good start in my first match on Friday, I don't see why I can't go far in the tournament." Himmelrich was quick to link his individual progress with that of the program as a whole. "I think it shows that Penn's becoming a more attractive place for recruits to come," he said. "That comes from the team having better results and the hard work of our upper-classmen and definitely our coach, Craig Thorpe-Clarke." Himmelrich received votes but was not ranked in the latest SquashTalk.com individual rankings. This is the third week this season in which he has received votes -- he had been voteless for the past three weeks, though. "It shows good signs of improvement in our program," nationally-ranked No. 9 sophomore Richard Repetto said. "I think this is the first time that we've had two in the top division." Repetto has set himself a goal of reaching the quarterfinals this weekend. Should he get that far, he is anticipating facing Cornell's No. 16 Matthew Serediak in the second round, and possibly squaring off for a third time this season against Princeton's Yasser El-Halaby in the quarterfinals. Last week El-Halaby swept national No. 1, Trintiy's Bernardo Samper, in the team championships at Princeton. Repetto does not expect to see the same result against Serendiak this weekend as he did last Saturday, in which he lost the match after being up two games to none. "My eyes have opened a little bit since last week," Repetto said. "I won't go to sleep in the third game like I did last week." As for El-Halaby -- "you can't really go past that unless he breaks a leg," Repetto said. Repetto does not wish any such harm on Princeton's star, however. "He's a really nice kid and we get a long really well -- no animosity, whatsover." "I don't mind getting beaten by a kid as long as he has a smile on his face," he added. Repetto believes that much of the pressure this weekend will be on Trinity's No. 1, sophomore Bernardo Samper. "It's [his] home court," Repetto said. Samper will likely have a leg up on the competition because of his familiarity with Trinity's glass-walled main court, as well as being in good stead with the vocal Bantams fans. But Repetto would not dismiss El-Halaby's chances of winning the championship. El-Halaby is "a player at the top level and he's got a lot of match experience and tournament experience," Repetto said. "When he wants to get serious, he'll get serious, and you can really see the true side of the way he plays."

https://www.thedp.com/article/2003/02/m-squash-sends-three-to-individual-champs

Club Hockey ends another season of success

(02/26/03 10:00am)

Another season has ended for one of Penn's fringe sports teams. Both literally and figuratively, the Penn men's club hockey team finds itself outside of most Quaker fans' thoughts at this time of year, despite having won the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association championship last year and losing in the semifinals this past season. While the Red and Blue faithful descend in droves upon the Palestra, the University's top hockey team laces up its skates at the Class of 1923 Ice Rink at 31st and Walnut streets, almost as far east as one can go and still be "on campus." "I don't think people know that we play really competitive hockey," said senior Dan Remick, the team's assistant captain and co-president. "It's hard to get people to come out to the rink." Although the team has been flying mostly under the radar, the hockey club has been soaring in its league nonetheless. This is the fourth year in a row that Penn has made the playoffs, including one MACHA championship last season. This year's postseason was highlighted by a 5-1 thrashing of Princeton, followed by a tight 6-4 loss to Rider in the semifinals. "That was a great game," said Remick -- who led the team in points with 31 -- about the clash with the Tigers. "We'd tied them the week before, and they thought they had a chance against us. It was fun to come out and take it to them." "We love to beat Princeton," assistant captain and team co-president senior Michael Sand said. "We go there and their fans scream 'safety school' at us and stuff." Sand, the team's leading goal-scorer with 15 tallies, was not so upbeat about the game against the Broncs, however. "We wanted to win the championship, and it was pretty disappointing to lose to Rider," he said. "They have always been our rival. "The playoffs always go through Rider," he added. The Quakers defeated the Broncs in last year's MACHA championship game. Although the team's club status deprives them of the opportunity to face teams such as national Ivy powers Harvard and Cornell, Remick is perfectly happy not to bear the burden of a varsity title. "I'd rather be a club," Remick said. "It's nice that we are the only hockey team on campus, so we kind of consider ourselves the Penn hockey team." Staying club also ensures more players have the opportunity to participate. "Some of the players on the team might be good enough to play varsity," Sand said. "But those of us who are not good enough to play varsity are happy to be good players in a club team league." Sand also noted that none of Philadelphia's six Division I schools can claim a varsity hockey team. The Quakers can also look to Lafayette, Penn State, Delaware, Monmouth, Millersville and Seton Hall for regional club opposition. "From a personal standpoint, I think that it's unfortunate that Penn as a university doesn't have a varsity team," assistant coach and former player Whit Matthews '02 said. "At the same time, I think that it's great for the kids that are here [that the team is club]." The club-for-varsity tradeoff manifests itself in time and financial commitments. The team receives approximately $10,000 each year from the Sports Club Council, and each team member contributes $500 in dues. But the time commitment is smaller than most Penn varsity sports, with only two practices and an average of two games each week. "We don't have funds to advertise as the basketball team would for example," Matthews said. "So our crowds are pretty minimal, and the crowds that do come out [are] pretty supportive."

https://www.thedp.com/article/2003/02/club_hockey_ends_another_season_of_success

Team champs next for M. Squash

(02/20/03 10:00am)

After finishing the regular season ranked No. 7 in the country, the Penn men's squash team will close out their regular season this weekend at the College Squash Association Team Championships. "For a team that started out No. 11 at the beginning of the year, to end up five or six is unheard of," Penn senior Sam Miller said of the Quakers' possible ranking after this weekend. Penn and 31 other teams will battle it out at three venues -- Jadwin Gym and Dillon Gym at Princeton University and the Ringe Squash Courts here on Penn's campus. Penn's first opponent will be the host No. 2 Tigers, who boast arguably the best player in collegiate squash, Yasser El-Halaby. "He has great hands, moves well," Penn freshman Jacob Himmelrich said of the Princeton star. "He's just that type of player. He's very special." El-Halaby fell this past weekend to Trinity's No. 1, Bernardo Samper, as the Bantams secured the regular-season national championship with an 8-1 win over the Tigers. "I really am still a little shocked by the result," Penn No. 1 Richard Repetto said. Repetto will face El-Halaby on Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. "Hopefully I can take advantage of the loss," Repetto added. The Quakers are under no illusions about the gap between themselves and their opponent. A loss to the Tigers would set up a second-round match with No. 6 Cornell, who will first face No. 3 Yale in the double-elimination tournament. "Princeton's way too strong at the top," Repetto said. "The eyes are set on Cornell." Penn is looking to avenge a 7-2 loss to the Big Red earlier in the season, a match which many players felt should have been closer. "Someone's looking out for us, and we're going to get another shot at them, it seems," Penn senior co-captain Sam Miller said. Even with the forthcoming match against Penn's traditional Ivy League rival, Miller conceded that "Cornell is what has been on our minds all week." Princeton "will push us around," he said. "But with Cornell, we're going to push them around." Cornell is "the team to beat," Repetto said. The Red and Blue will have one weapon in their arsenal that they did not when they faced Cornell last November -- Elan Levy. The senior co-captain was nursing an injured quadriceps muscle at the time, but he will play this weekend. "I know that Elan is not 100 percent but he will play this weekend and he will be a benefit to the team," Miller said. "Not only with his oncourt skills, but he is a good leader and is the best at getting us all motivated for big matches." A win over the Big Red would set up a potential showdown with No. 5 Western Ontario, who first plays No. 4 Harvard and then would likely face No. 8 Dartmouth, who has the daunting task of playing Trinity to open its postseason. "Western Ontario's team would be a very tough team to beat," Repetto said. "The team's a little disorganized, but they are a pack of strong players." Repetto dismissed the notion that the cross-border travel combined with three days of intense squash would tire the Canadian team. "The way we will beat them is if we play extremely well and they have a few breakdowns," he said.

https://www.thedp.com/article/2003/02/team-champs-next-for-m-squash

W. Tennis claims two of three matches

(02/19/03 10:00am)

For the Penn women's tennis team, the storm came early this weekend. On Saturday afternoon, the No. 39 Quakers lost a tight battle to No. 23 Virginia Commonwealth, 4-3, then plowed past two unranked teams -- Binghamton, 7-0, Saturday evening, and Old Dominion, 6-1, on Sunday. Although the match against Virgina Commonwealth did not go the Quakers' way, it was thrilling nonetheless. After taking the doubles point by winning two of the three matches, Penn and VCU slugged it out in the singles. The Rams had won three of six singles matches to level the score at three matches apiece. It came down to Beatriz Cabrera and Raluca Ciulei at the No. 4 slot. Despite Ciulei saving four match points, Cabrera eked out the victory, 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (6-2), sealing the day for the visitors in a match which took over three hours. "VCU had some Spanish players that are very steady players and like to stay very long on the court," said freshman Raluca Ciocina, who had to retire from her match due to wrist pain. "Last year we lost to VCU, 7-0, so our coach was really trying to get us focused for this match and to avenge that loss," sophomore Brandy Washington said. "We knew we had to go out and fight." Other highlights included Penn No. 1 and nationally-ranked No. 14 Alice Pirsu sweeping Silvia Urickova aside, 6-0, 6-2. It would be the first of three wins on the weekend for Pirsu, including a three-set battle with Old Dominion's Natalie Cahana. "[All] the teams are not bad," Ciocina said. "I don't know if the ranking has so much to do with it." Washington was not quite as diplomatic to her defeated opponents, however. Binghamton "was for the players' confidence," she said. Washington played Saturday, for the first time this season, at the No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles slots. "That was really exciting," Washington said. "It was a great all around day, getting some confidence and playing time under my belt." As all the matches were played indoors at the Levy Tennis Pavillion, the snow did not have much effect on the teams, other than setting up some travel problems for the three visiting schools. Old Dominion's squad could not get out of Philadelphia on Sunday evening because of the blizzard. "It was hard getting to the courts, but after that it was okay inside," Ciocina said. "It was a little bit cold though." However, The Penn team was not effected. "We've been training inside pretty much the entire winter," Washington said. "We just had to walk over [to the Levy Pavillion] in the snow, which wasn't too fun," she said. "But we survived." The team will next play on Tuesday, Feb. 25, against Seton Hall at the Levy Pavillion.

https://www.thedp.com/article/2003/02/w-tennis-claims-two-of-three-matches

W. Squash seeks vengeance on first opponent of Howe

(02/14/03 10:00am)

After a historic season which saw the Penn women's squash team soar as high as No. 4 in the Squashtalk.com rankings, the Quakers' opponent at this weekend's Howe Cup will not be anything new. The Quakers will face No. 4 Dartmouth, who defeated the Red and Blue in a 5-4 thriller last weekend at the Ringe Squash courts, seizing Penn's ranking and dropping the team to No. 5 nationally. "We think we can win this time around," nationally-ranked No. 2 Runa Reta said, adding that Penn is "looking at [the match] as an opportunity to get back at them." "I hope everyone on the team remembers [last weekend]," Penn junior No. 9 Dafna Wegner said. "Because I'm anxious to get our revenge and beat Dartmouth." "They just wanted to win more than us [last time]," she added. The Howe Cup, the national championship of women's college squash, is being contested this year at the Brady Squash Center at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. "This is the perfect opportunity to show what we can do," nationally-ranked No. 15 Linda McNair said. "We have a different attitude going into [this weekend], which will make a significant difference." This weekend will be somewhat bittersweet for Reta in particular, as it is the final match of her career as a member of the Red and Blue (9-4, 3-3 Ivy). "It's a little sad because I guess it's my last tournament," Reta said. But she refused to dwell on the subject, quickly adding that the team is "definitely excited" to start competing at the Howe Cup. The top eight teams in the country will travel to the Howe Cup. Penn will be joined in the sport's upper echelon by Trinity, Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Princeton, Williams, and Brown. "It basically determines your national ranking [for the year]," Reta said. "Everything we've played up until now has been really to determine our seedings [in the Howe Cup]," McNair said. "The only thing that's going to matter is how we do this weekend." "It's definitely not just another match, another weekend," Wegner said. "We're going to have three hard matches in one weekend. It's hard to be ready day after day." The Brady Squash Center will also host the other 21 teams in the NISRA rankings this weekend. These teams will be broken into three tiers, each of which will play their own tournament. The ninth through 16th-ranked teams will contest the Kurtz Cup; the next eight will play for the Walker Cup, and the final five will chase the Epps Cup. Penn has played teams in all three tiers, or "flights," this season. The tournament is played in a double-elimination style, so if Penn loses its first match, its time in New Haven is not over. A win would likely have them playing No. 2 Harvard or the host No. 3 Elis. "Every team we lost to," Wegner said, "we can get revenge and beat them."

https://www.thedp.com/article/2003/02/w-squash-seeks-vengeance-on-first-opponent-of-howe

M. Squash splits weekend matches with new lineup

(02/10/03 10:00am)

Sam Miller had been waiting four years for this moment. "That was the most exciting match I have ever seen, played in, whatever, what have you, in my entire collegiate squash career, without a doubt," said Miller, Penn's senior co-captain. After nearly four hours of squash, during which half the matches stretched the full five games, the No. 8 Penn men's squash team emerged victorious over No. 7 Dartmouth by a 5-4 margin. Miller brought his Red and Blue career to a close with a 9-2, 6-9, 9-1, 9-4 victory over Jesse Nisselson. "Today was a culmination of four years of hard work," Penn coach Craig Thorpe-Clarke said. "This was one of the better moments for us" in team history, he added. A sweep of the top three spots on the ladder punctuated the win, a reversal from the team's past victories, in which the lower-ranked players won the bulk of the matches. "That's a testament to how much we wanted it," Miller said. For this match and Saturday's 7-2 loss to No. 3 Harvard, Thorpe-Clarke pulled a mild surprise by placing freshman Jacob Himmelrich at No. 2 and inserting Colby Emerson at No. 4, a reversal of their spots in previous matches. "He's ready to play," Thorpe-Clarke said of the freshman, who defeated Miller and Emerson in a midweek challenge match series. The results "were all pretty close, and that's how [they] ended up," Thorpe-Clarke said. Himmelrich proved he deserved the spot yesterday, defeating Andrei Prokopiw, 9-0, 9-5, 2-9, 9-0. "I came out and I was hitting the ball well and going short well, and I just kept on attacking," the freshman said. "It's definitely a great feeling to win today like that." "Jacob played a dream match," Thorpe-Clarke said. "You can't ask for anyone to play as well as he played." The match of the day was the clash of the schools' top players, as Penn No. 1 and nationally ranked No. 12 Richard Repetto took on Dartmouth's top man, No. 8 Ryan Donegan. As Repetto took the court, Penn needed only one more win to clinch a victory on the day. He fell behind 1-9, 9-1, 9-10. At the same time, Emerson was down two games, and senior co-captain Elan Levy was about to surrender a two-games-to-one lead to William Hiltz in the No. 6 slot. The chances of a Penn victory were quickly decreasing. But spurred on by a raucous crowd in the bleachers behind the Molloy Exhibition Court, Repetto rallied to take the final two games, 9-5, 9-3, and clinch the win for the Red and Blue. "That was a huge match for me to win," Repetto said. "I thought my match was going to be the icing on the cake" instead of the clinching victory he added. "Rich is a very talented player, and he's worked hard the last few weeks to make this happen for him," Miller said. "But man, I was scared," Repetto let on.

https://www.thedp.com/article/2003/02/m-squash-splits-weekend-matches-with-new-lineup

M. Squash pounds F&M; and Penn State

(02/04/03 10:00am)

After shutout losses against No. 1 Trinity and No. 2 Princeton, the No. 8 Penn men's squash team found a welcome respite on Sunday. The Quakers traveled to Lancaster, Pa., and posted two shutouts of their own, defeating No. 32 Penn State and host No. 16 Franklin and Marshall, both by 9-0 scores. "We played well, and you can't ask for better results," Penn coach Craig Thorpe-Clarke said. The Quakers started their day against Penn State, and later posted their first sweep of Franklin and Marshall in Thorpe-Clarke's tenure at Penn. "Four years ago, losing to them, and now beating them 9-0, is a testament to how much we've improved," Thorpe-Clarke said. "We treat them with respect, they're good opponents, they have a long history of producing good teams." "This is really the first year where we've separated ourselves from them," senior co-captain Elan Levy said. "It's nice to go out against a team with some pretty decent players and dominate." Levy did not play yesterday, resting an injured quadriceps muscle. "[I'm] getting ready for Harvard and Dartmouth" next weekend, he said. The Penn State match had a markedly different atmosphere to it, as the Nittany Lions' team does not have full varsity status. "They are a club team, so they don't have the funding like the varsity teams we play," Penn senior co-captain Sam Miller said. "So we go in there and we have a lot of respect for them because they are putting up their own money." Thorpe-Clarke, who sits on the Executive Committee of the Collegiate Squash Association, also understood the significance of the match. "Part of the mission statement of the CSA is to encourage emerging and developing teams," he said. "It's important that we play teams that need some bigger games and need some experience." The Penn State club is "a nice group of guys, they try hard, even this week they recruited two players," Thorpe-Clarke added. "Squash will grow in popularity when you have guys like the ones at Penn State who like the game enough to put in their own time and money to the program," Miller said. After enjoying a day off from practice today, the team will spend this week preparing for its last two home matches of the season, against No. 3 Harvard and No. 7 Dartmouth this weekend at the Ringe Squash Courts. "We've got a couple of goals to work on," Thorpe-Clarke said. "Harvard's going to be a tough one, and Dartmouth's going to be a barnburner." Levy is taking his final two home matches in Quakers' colors very seriously. "We're gonna train our butts off. It's no joke for us," he said. "Sunday will probably be the most intense match I've ever played here at Penn."

https://www.thedp.com/article/2003/02/m-squash-pounds-fm-and-penn-state

M. Squash clawed by Tigers

(01/30/03 10:00am)

It's not often that a college sports team has to play the top two teams in the country in a five-day span. But the No. 8 Penn men's squash team has had to do just that -- with the expected results. And after a 9-0 loss at No. 1 Trinity, the Quakers found themselves on the wrong end of the same score last night against No. 2 Princeton at the Jadwin Squash Courts. "All in all, we weren't going into the match expecting to beat them," senior co-captain Sam Miller said. "But to be honest, we were expecting to do better than we did. Especially toward the bottom of the ladder, we can absolutely compete with them." "We knew going in that they are a very strong team and most likely we were going to have a tough night," freshman Jacob Himmelrich said. "But I think once we got on court, we realized just how strong they are." Princeton boasts three of the nation's top-ranked players, including nationally-ranked No. 1 Yasser El-Halaby, No. 8 William Evans and No. 6 David Yik, who defeated Miller. Tigers senior Eric Pearson, a Philadelphia native, played No. 1 for the U.S. junior national team at the 1998 World Junior Championships, which was held at Princeton. "Their top four or five are all way too strong for us," Penn coach Craig Thorpe-Clarke said. El-Halaby defeated Trinity No. 1 Bernardo Samper -- the 2002 National Intercollegiate Squash Racquet Association Individual Champion -- earlier this season. Penn No. 1 Richard Repetto, meanwhile, lost to Samper in Penn's last match. "It's a learning experience," Miller said. "I always look forward to playing those guys." The team was unhappy with its inability to capitalize at the bottom of the ladder, perceived as "relatively weaker" by Himmelrich. "I think the lower half of our ladder felt they had a better chance, and on paper they probably did," he said. "They are still extremely strong.... I think perhaps we were a little bit too confident," he added. Thorpe-Clarke also felt that the team could have played better. "We took the back seat," he said. "We let them control the match. "We've been the aggressor in past matches and we didn't step up ready for the fight tonight." Junior Dan Rottenberg was the only Quaker to win a game against the Tigers, doing so at the No. 9 position. "They are a tough team," Rottenberg said. "Against good players, you always play well." "I think this guy raised my level of play," he added. Miller tried to keep a level head about the team's performances over the last week. "It's only going to make us better for the rest of the season," he said. "Even though the result didn't turn out in our favor the last two matches, we competed better because we were a stronger team. We're deeper than in past years." The Quakers will next take on Penn State and Franklin and Marshall in a double-header on Sunday afternoon. Despite the mental burden of consecutive shutouts, the Quakers look to put the losses behind them and move on with their four remaining regular season matches. "All in all, we can't be disappointed because the season's gone well," sophomore Chris Miller said. "We really have to look past today and focus on the matches we can win, which are coming up in a week."

https://www.thedp.com/article/2003/01/m-squash-clawed-by-tigers

M. Squash earns fifth straight victory

(01/24/03 10:00am)

Squash is not for the faint of heart. For proof of this, look no further than the Penn men's squash team, which beat Williams, 8-1, last night in a frantic match whose final score could have been much closer. "It was a really good win," No. 12 nationally-ranked Richard Repetto said. "It looked pretty tight, but everyone picked it up. "The match instilled a lot of confidence." Penn coach Craig Thorpe-Clarke singled out Repetto and teammate, No. 3 Sam Miller, who won his match 9-7, 10-9, 9-2, for their performances. "We've gotten tougher with these matches as we've gone along," Thorpe-Clarke said of his players. The Red and Blue started out of the gate slowly, with four players losing their first games. But all four were able to rally and win their matches. "I think that as the match wore on, we played with greater control and accuracy," Thorpe-Clarke said. "Even though from out the back [of the court] it looks pretty even, our guys were doing less of the work. "The pressure is cumulative," he added. This weekend, Penn heads to Hartford, Conn. to take on four-time defending National Intercollegiate Squash Racquets Association champion Trinity. The Bantams will be the Quakers' toughest test of the season, as each of their top four players ranked higher than Penn's No. 1 Richard Repetto in the latest Squashtalk.com individual rankings. "Trinity is known for its extremely hostile crowd," Repetto said. "A lot of the campus shows up for the matches, especially since the facility that they just built is top of the line. "Let's face it, they are a Division III school. It's the only sport they'll probably win a national championship in." Repetto will face Colombia native and national No. 2 Bernardo Samper. "My game matches up well with his," said Repetto, who was one of only two players in the country to win a game against Samper last year. "I feel that I am stronger than I was last year.... Hopefully things will work out." Both player and coach noted that all the walls of the main exhibition court are made of glass at Trinity -- unlike Penn's main court -- and that the floor is painted blue. The players will use a white ball instead of the normal black one to provide the proper contrast. "That takes a little bit of getting used to," Thorpe-Clarke said. "It will give them a slight advantage," Repetto said. "I can count on one hand how many times I've played with a white ball. But the problems it will cause might not be that severe. "It's still the same game," he added. All of the other courts at the Kellner Squash Center have the same type of floor and walls as those at the Ringe Squash Courts. Despite the Bantams' lofty perch in the NISRA rankings, Thorpe-Clarke does not think his team is intimidated. "We're in a learning mode against Trinity," he said. "We have nothing to lose. You learn when you play the best, and this is a great opportunity for us."

https://www.thedp.com/article/2003/01/m-squash-earns-fifth-straight-victory

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