When Penn women's tennis coach Mike Dowd arrived in Philadelphia in December 1996 at the ripe age of 24, he was starving. He was looking for tennis players who wanted to sit down at the table with him and dig in. "We wanted to find hungry tennis players, players that are still getting better and wanted to prove themselves when they got to college," Dowd said of his plan to reinvent the program.

Less than a month into his first season with Harvard, coach Tommy Amaker was feeling good. After a 62-51 win over Michigan on Dec. 1, Amaker had not only stuck it to his former team, he had also pulled the Crimson's record up to .500 in the tough early going of the non-conference season.

This may be the year for Yale to polish off those dancing shoes. While they may be horribly out-of-style by now (the last time the team went to the NCAA tournament was 1962), with four seniors returning and a seemingly wide-open Ivy League, the question is, why not Yale? Led by captain and first-team All-Ivy guard Eric Flato, the Bulldogs have one of the more experienced teams in the Ancient Eight.

Last Saturday night, in Columbia, S.C., presidential hopeful Barack Obama delivered a rousing victory speech following his triumph in the South Carolina Democratic primary. "This election is about the past versus the future," Obama told a throng of supporters.

Wednesday night at Ringe Courts played out more like a Disney movie than a squash match. And as they seem to do only in the movies, the underdog Quakers pulled out a seemingly miraculous 5-4 comeback win over undefeated No. 1 Princeton. It was a perfect setup: a heated rivalry pitting two undefeated squads against each other, a coach looking for his first win over his alma mater and an underdog looking to avenge last year's loss .

Winning an Ivy League championship two consecutive years is a lofty goal, but the Penn women's tennis team plans to do just that. Mike Dowd, head coach since 1996, believes he has the unique combination of players to do it. "This is a special team," Dowd said.

When the Penn women's squash team showed up at Princeton last season, it was full of optimism after just gaining the No. 1 spot in the country. Already, the Quakers had an eye on the possibility of winning their first national title since 2000. But the Tigers soundly dashed those dreams, as the Red and Blue finished fourth in the country, unable to recover from the 7-2 loss.

After compiling a 2-12 record and finishing dead last in the Ivy League last year, things are not looking too much better for the Tigers this season. Princeton finally snapped a 12 game losing streak with a 60-46 victory over Dominican on Sunday, improving its overall win-loss to an abysmal 3-12.

The tension is evident on the men's tennis team. Coming into its matchup tomorrow against Saint Joseph's (0-1), two lines of thought permeate the squad. Coach Nik DeVore has been warning his players against underestimating opponents, a mental flaw that hurt the Quakers early on in their meet against Drexel, where they eventually earned their first and only win of the season.

An 8-8 start wasn't what the media had in mind when they selected Dartmouth to finish last among the Ivies. But after a poor winter break showing - dropping five of seven games - the Big Green have ridden their defense to three straight wins. With the bulk of conference play right around the corner, they seem poised to eclipse their win total from the 2006-2007 campaign, when they finished 9-18.

Neither rain, nor sleet nor snow could stop the Quakers from trouncing Franklin and Marshall yet again. Penn had won the previous four meetings by a combined score of 33-3, and last night - the makeup for a Dec. 4 match postponed due to inclement weather - was no different.

Columbia is the most veteran Ivy League team. It returned a roster that had 27 percent more Division-I minutes under its belt than the next-closest Ivy. But January is annual reality-check time for the Lions, who always seems to generate more buzz than they can back up.

To say Nik DeVore is driven is an understatement. The first-year men's tennis coach left his job at Loyola Marymount in the sunny confines of Southern California and drove 45 hours to blustery Philadelphia. He interviewed to be the Quakers coach seven years ago, and now he's back, despite the distance.

Now that second semester has rolled around, this senior is getting ready to bid farewell to a lot of things. Somewhere high up on that list, situated just under $3.75 food cart lunches and in a dead heat with the shortcut near the Rotunda, are Penn sports.

After what the men's squash team endured last Friday, tonight's match should be a breeze. The Quakers (5-4) saw their five-match winning streak snapped last Friday to No. 1 Trinity. Tonight at Ringe, in a match that was originally postponed due to inclement weather, the Red and Blue's opponent is the considerably less fearsome Franklin and Marshall.

After his team's Jan. 15 loss at Seton Hall, Penn women's basketball coach Pat Knapp boldly predicted when his team's double-digit losing streak would finally end. "Next game," said the fourth-year coach, whose squad has lost 10 straight games by an average of 20.

The Quakers were reeling from injuries by the time they played their first game this year, and the sprains, tweaks and bruises have not been spread out evenly on the team. The guard corps has been decimated, while coach Pat Knapp estimated that only one of seven post players has missed any time.