When Brian Voelker was hired as the men's lacrosse coach before the 2003 season, he took the helm of a program that had not been to the NCAA tournament in 13 years. But within four years, he had taken his Quakers there twice. Now, if Penn wants to return to the postseason after last year's absence, Voelker will have to navigate a boatload of young talent through a harsh regular-season schedule.

Jeff Orleans said yesterday that he will retire as Ivy Group Executive Director, effective June 30, 2009. Orleans, the only full-time Executive Director in Ivy history, has held his position since September 1984. "I have been extremely fortunate over the last two decades to have the chance to help the Ivy League's extraordinary student-athletes succeed," the Yale and Yale Law School graduate said in a statement.

Following a Jan. 15 loss to Seton Hall, the women's basketball team had a 16-day break before its next game against Harvard. But the time off was not a voluntary choice for Penn coach Pat Knapp, who feared that his squad would get rusty. The layoff was just one of several unfortunate byproducts of the unusual Ivy League schedule.

When your team is a double-digit underdog, allowing Saint Joseph's to shoot 63 percent from the field and letting Pat Calathes and Darrin Govens drop 26 apiece isn't exactly a winning prescription. But then again, La Salle coach John Giannini is the one with a Ph.

Fresh off Friday's 31-10 victory over Columbia, the No. 25 Penn wrestling team faced No. 15 Cornell at the Palestra Saturday in a match that left coaches on both teams scratching their heads. Four of the 10 bouts resulted in upsets, but the Quakers couldn't pull off the overall upset and ultimately lost, 19-15.

The streak is finally over. After a disheartening loss at Brown on Friday, 72-59, the women's basketball team stormed back for a surprise 75-67 victory over Yale Saturday in New Haven, Conn. It was the Quakers first victory since Nov. 28, a 15-game stretch.

When Brown came into the Palestra on Friday, 3,642 people witnessed something they hadn't seen in a long time: an Ivy loss for the Quakers in their home gym. The Bears escaped with a 66-61 win, withstanding a furious Penn comeback despite not scoring a field goal in the game's final eight minutes.

This is the column I never wanted to write but sensed I might have to after watching Loyola take a 30-point lead against Penn at that high school gym in Baltimore. After that game, Glen Miller stressed his team's inexperience. That's when I almost wrote off this season as a rebuilding year.

There were no surprises this weekend for the men's tennis team. In a Sunday doubleheader that went pretty much as expected, the Quakers easily knocked off Delaware and Villanova by a combined score of 13-1. According to Penn coach Nik DeVore, the Quakers (7-1) started the day "flat," dropping the first doubles match to Delaware by an 8-6 margin.

Sophomore Ekaterina Kosminskaya has been as good as the Quakers could have hoped. She lost just a total of seven singles and doubles matches in the spring of her rookie campaign en route to unanimous Ivy League Rookie and Player of the Year honors. But after missing the Quakers' first two matches of 2008 with the flu, Kosminskaya had to make her season debut against a rare opponent who has had her number.

The Penn men's squash team was hoping for a fourth-place finish this weekend at the Team Championships in Boston, Mass. It'll have to settle for fifth. After a long bus ride up on Friday and little time left for practice, the Quakers took the courts to face off against Yale in their first-round match.

Down one at halftime, Penn coach Glen Miller talked about the need to come out strong in the second half. But three quick Yale layups after the break had Penn reeling, and it looked like the Quakers could fall below .500 in the Ivy League for the first time since the 2003-04 season.

"Cool. Calm. Chilled." Why does women's basketball coach Pat Knapp describe his team like that despite having lost 14 games in a row? Because Penn (3-17, 0-5 Ivy) is not the only Ivy League team struggling this season, and this weekend is its best chance yet for a win.

His brother-in-law may get the notoriety, but Brown coach Craig Robinson fancies himself an agent of change. It started in his own gym, where he morphed Glen Miller's run-and-gun system into the deliberate march of his alma mater. Now, he wants change at the top; no team other than Penn and Princeton has won the Ivy League in the past 20 years.

For Tyler Bernardini, Valentine's Day was heavy on the basketball and light on the roses. "Just working on my jump shot," the freshman guard said when asked if he had plans. "Just trying to 'ball." Of late, Bernardini has been prevented from doing just that.

Wednesday's practice for the men's squash team was just like any other - relaxed, with plenty of jokes and racquets flying around. For four seniors this week of practice at the Ringe Squash Courts will be their last. Coming up on the last hurrah of their squash careers at this weekend's College Squash Association Championship, the eldest Quakers want their departure to be memorable.

It may be the weekend, but the Penn women's tennis team has an exam on Saturday. The subject: Virginia Commonwealth, in Richmond, Va. "I think this weekend we're going to find out how we're playing," coach Mike Dowd said. "When we're playing a team of this level we're going to find out where we are as a team and what we're going to need to work on afterwards.