After thirteen days off, the Penn women's basketball team is looking to start their season anew. The Quakers (3-10, 0-1 Ivy) will face Seton Hall (13-6) at the Palestra tonight in their final non-conference matchup of the season. But the Quakers aren't underestimating the significance of the game on their way to the start of the Ivy season.

With 24 seasons of Big 5 hostilities in his memory bank, Phil Martelli knows full well what the Philadelphia fan is capable of. Which helps explain why the Saint Joseph's coach might have expected worse from an electric sellout crowd at the Palestra Saturday night.

Ask recently terminated Kansas City Chiefs coach Herm Edwards about the concept of a "good loss," and he'd be quick to inform that "You play to win the game!" Bring up the Penn wrestling team's Friday loss to No. 4 Nebraska (12-2-1) with Quakers coach Rob Eiter, and you will get a very different response.

With a dozen of his friends watching and the crowd "oohing" and "aahing" his every move, Hicham Laalej laced a forehand down the left side of the court. The ball whizzed just over the net and landed inches inside the white line for yet another winner. It was that kind of day for the revamped men's tennis team and its highly-touted transfer in its regular season opener against Drexel.

The last time Carrie Biemer scored fewer than 10 points in a game was last Jan. 15, in a 67-50 loss at Seton Hall. As fate would have it, Biemer's 27-game double-digit scoring streak was snapped on Monday by that same Seton Hall team, as the senior captain was held to nine points and zero rebounds.

No one argues that undefeated Trinity isn't the best squash team in the nation. The question is what to take away from a loss on the inevitable long ride home. The No. 7 Quakers became the No. 1 Bantams' 191st consecutive victim Saturday afternoon in a 9-0 loss in Hartford, Conn.

For captain Emily Goodwin, Saturday's squash match against No. 3 Trinity was more than just a battle of top-ranked teams - the New York native's best friend from home, Chauncey Kerr, is the captain of the Bantams. Nevertheless, the history of the two captains contributed to a heated match, literally and figuratively, at Ringe Courts.

Laura Klick climbed out of Sheerr Pool in ecstasy after breaking the pool record in the 100-yard breaststroke. Then the freshman's bliss turned bittersweet when she realized that Navy's Mallory Dietrich had also beaten the record and taken first place. "Obviously I wanted to get the pool record," Klick said.

Before the winter break layoff, Penn found itself at the lowest point of Glen Miller's tenure. In a December posting on The Buzz, the Daily Pennsylvanian's sports blog, I questioned the Quakers' passion, direction and leadership, fearing that the program might be in serious jeopardy.

No eight-hour bus rides, no boxed dinners, no hotel rooms. After a season of away meets, the Quakers will finally swim in Sheerr Pool. Tomorrow at noon, Penn will host its only home meet of the season, welcoming Rider and Navy. "It's awesome to have spectators because they'll definitely keep the mental focus, and I'm excited to race," freshman freestyler Cameron Hood said.

In a crucial Ivy faceoff two months ago, Tara Chawla and Kristen Lange took the court for the women's squash team against Yale needing to win both matches. They did just that, giving the Quakers a 5-4 comeback win over the Bulldogs in New Haven, Conn. The scene was eerily similar Wednesday night in Hartford, Conn.

Calling the Trinity men's squash program "great" does not do it justice. It is arguably the best in collegiate sports history. The Bantams' 189-match win streak is the longest for any college team ever, and they consistently bring in the best recruits from all over the world.

According to the Nebraska Corn Board, there are more than 3,500 different uses for the almost omnipresent vegetable. Ethanol, high-fructose corn syrup and starch are just some of the more prominent maize manifestations. The Penn wrestling team (6-4, 3-0 EIWA) hopes to add "redemption" to that list when it battles the No.

Senior captain Jonathan Boym has been waiting almost two years for this, the start of the 2009 spring tennis season. After sitting out most of his junior campaign with a shoulder injury, Boym can't wait to get back on the court. "I'm really excited," Boym said.

The seniors on the women's swimming team would love to leave Sheerr Pool for the final time with two more notches in the win column. But besting Navy and Rider tomorrow, after a Senior Day ceremony, will not be easy for Lauren Bergstrom, Lindsey Gottschalk, Nicole Malgeri, Amy Wolf and the rest of the Quakers.

Since Penn's 2007 NCAA Tournament appearance, it has gone a woeful 0-for-Big 5 over two seasons. In the low point of their play in the informal conference, the Quakers were blown out, 82-42, by Saint Joseph's a year ago. It was an absolute debacle in every sense of the word.

It is almost too easy to say that as Tyler Bernardini goes, so go the Quakers. When a team's best scorer struggles, as Bernardini did in many of Penn's losses before last night, it is natural to think that if he just finds his stroke again the victories will magically appear.