For the first seven days of spring break, the women's tennis team kept coming up just short in California. The Quakers lost to No. 72 San Diego State, No. 47 UC Irvine, No. 27 Pepperdine and No. 32 Long Beach State all by the score of 4-3. That was the first time coach Mike Dowd has ever lost four straight games by a 4-3 score in his 12-year career at Penn.

After months of inclement weather, infield puddles and indoor practices, the Penn baseball team is finally headed for greener pastures - if only for one week. The Quakers (0-1) flew to Boca Raton, Fla., last night, where they will play out an eight-game spring break slate over the next eight days.

For the men's tennis team, spring break will signify more than just a week without classes. With a three-match road trip in California on tap, it will also mark the annual switch from indoor to outdoor courts. "Normally it's a tough transition," Penn coach Nik DeVore said.

In each of the past three seasons, Penn has headed into the final weekend of the regular season with NCAA Tournament seeding on its mind. This year, all that's left is pride. Senior captain Brian Grandieri and Joe Gill have three Ivy League titles under their belts; classmate Mike Kach - who didn't play in his sophomore year - has two.

This weekend, Penn's track teams will embark on the ultimate alternate spring break, as they head north to compete in Boston. The women will compete in the ECAC Championships, while the men will race in the IC4A Championships. Penn Women's track coach Gwen Harris says there are two goals that every track team aspires to achieve at every big meet.

Men's lacrosse coach Brian Voelker is hoping that his trip out west proves to be a Rocky Mountain high and not a Rocky mountain low. The men's lacrosse team traveled to Colorado last night for its two spring break contests against Air Force and Denver - its last tune-up before the six-game Ivy slate.

Of all the lumps it has taken this season, the women's basketball team's matchup with Cornell a month ago may have left the deepest bruise. The Big Red starting frontcourt poured in 34 points en route to an 80-56 victory. But the Quakers had a six-hour bus trip up to Ithaca, N.

For the wrestling team, the last four months of bouts, pins and takedowns all comes down to this weekend. Starting tomorrow and finishing up Sunday, the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association will hold its conference tournament at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa.

Talk about learning quickly: The softball team will play more games this spring break than it has year. Penn (2-2 ) will travel to Orlando, Fla., to take part in the Rebel Spring Games. They will play 10 contests over six days, with just one day off. Their opponents include seven different teams from all over the country: Cleveland State, Butler, Tenesee-Martin, Indiana-Purdue, Robert Morris, Monmouth and Wisconsin-Green Bay.

While their classmates are throwing back shots of tequila over spring break next week, eight Quakers will be taking their shot at college fencing's highest honor at the NCAA Championships in Columbus, Ohio, from March 13-16. But according to coach Dave Micahnik, Penn's biggest challenge won't take place on the piste.

Becca Edwards notched a hat trick against North Carolina last weekend, but that's not why she's been the center of attention among her lacrosse teammates. When she joined the Quakers, the attacker had never experienced jetlag. The native of Flourtown, Pa.

He might be moving on to Division-I football, but quarterback John Hurley may have already seen more time in the limelight than he will in his four years of college. Hurley, a marquee member of Penn football's Class of 2012, was the signal-caller for St. Xavier of Cincinnati, which finished 2007 ranked No.

Karin Brower is barely concerned about it. Rudy Fuller is slightly apprehensive. Al Bagnoli says it "scares" him. All three Penn coaches - Brower of women's lacrosse, Fuller of men's soccer and Bagnoli of football - said that the financial-aid reforms at Harvard, Penn, Yale, Dartmouth and Brown have turned the distribution of aid money into a front-burner issue in the Ivy League.

When he left Providence, R.I. and the Brown basketball program for the head coaching job at Penn, Glen Miller was faced with the difficult task of replacing Philadelphia icon Fran Dunphy. But in 1993, 13 years before he took over for Dunphy, Miller was replacing some of the lower-profile denizens of the athletic world.

Not many kids from Andre Wilkins' neighborhood make it to Ivy League schools. In fact, not many kids from the Jane/Finch area of northern Toronto - from where the Cornell guard hails - make it to college at all. The neighborhood has developed a reputation as one of the roughest in Canada and has been compared to Compton, Calif.

Lineman Joe Silberzweig excelled on both sides of the ball at Scarsdale High. Now, the 6-foot-1, 280-pounder is set to throw the offensive playbook out the window to join Al Bagnoli's defensive line next season. He expects to play at nose guard or defensive tackle for Bagnoli.

The decimated women's softball team was only able to keep it together for so long. Already at only 14 players, the roster was further whittled down to 11 thanks to illness and exams before yesterday's doubleheader at Delaware. In fact, the situation was so dire that King rang up Penn soccer midfielder Natalie Capuano - who last played softball in high school - to temporarily join the team.