It was a much-needed turnaround. Following a disappointing trip to Seattle last weekend that produced losses to both East Tennessee State and Washington, Penn Men’s Tennis was in desperate need of a spark to kick-start a season full of expectations and promise. In Saturday’s meet at the Hecht Tennis Center against Middle Tennessee State, they got just that.

All season long, Penn basketball's first-year coach Steve Donahue’s mantra has been simple: “We’re trying to build this into a championship program.” On Friday night, he may have gotten a first-hand view of what one looks like.

This week, Penn wrestling coach Alex Tirapelle asked his wrestlers to take turns carrying each other across the practice room.

Coming off a gripping 5-4 comeback victory at Trinity last Saturday, the Penn women (7-1, 1-1 Ivy) will have to defend their No. 2 ranking in the faces of the third-ranked Tigers (5-1, 1-1) Saturday afternoon.

On non-conference schedule: I thought we had some solid performances. We had some games where we would have liked to have played better and closed it out with some leads and some games.

After a one-off loss against Princeton nearly three weeks ago, Penn men’s basketball (6-9, 0-1 Ivy) will dive in to Ancient Eight play for good this weekend as they travel to Yale and Brown.

If the Penn football team beats Cornell at Franklin Field to win the Ivy League title and Brian Seltzer is not in the booth to provide commentary, did it really happen? Ever since 2008, the 2007 college graduate has been the voice of Penn football.

In most college sports, you see scores of amateurs competing to be a part of a select few good enough to compete professionally after graduation.

Despite reports in December that the Ivy League was on the verge of announcing a postseason tournament to crown a conference champion, the actual pace of action seems to be a good deal slower.

For me, it’s a no-brainer. The Ivy League needs a conference tournament for basketball. When you look at Ivy Athletics as a whole, there’s something left to be desired for those students who are fans of NCAA athletics as a whole.

While the blizzard raged on, Penn women’s squash found its fire on Saturday.

Oh the weather outside is frightful ... and it is apparently a bit too frightful for the Philadelphia Invitational that Penn Fencing was scheduled to host throughout Saturday and Sunday.

As Lorenzo Thomas stepped up for his bout with Binghamton’s Steven Schneider, Penn wrestling already maintained a comfortable 21-3 advantage on the day. For Thomas, however, the match was a big one. Eight minutes and an 8-1 decision later, the Pittsburgh native had become just the 11th grappler in program history to record 100 career wins.

On Friday afternoon, Penn men’s lacrosse practice concluded with some welcome news as senior attackman Nick Doktor learned he had been taken by the Charlotte Hounds with the 18th pick of the 2016 Major League Lacrosse draft.

Even as Philadelphia and its citizens stock food, salt the roads, and seal their windows in advance of this weekend’s blizzard, Penn wrestling is preparing to weather a much different storm.

On Wednesday night, Penn men’s basketball was beaten by a much better team. The Red and Blue were routed by Saint Joseph’s, a well-oiled juggernaut of a squad that sits as the nation’s 30th-best team by RPI.

“Rise and shine” has been a pretty good way to describe Penn's season so far.  This weekend, against top-program Trinity, the Quakers will have the opportunity to do that once again.