Few positives came out of Penn’s double-digit loss to a shorthanded Penn State team, but freshman Tony Hicks’ showing gave a glimpse of the Quakers’ future.

Penn women’s fencing consists only of 14 members, four on the foil squad. With the top three competing in team competitions, every person really matters.

The Quakers eked out a 58-53 overtime win over Bucknell on Monday night at the Palestra. The Red and Blue’s second straight victory was again decided by single digits.

The Penn women’s squash team swept Williams College with a 9-0 shutout for its fourth consecutive win of the season.

This past Thursday through Saturday, the Quakers dominated a field of Kenyon, Carnegie Mellon, Davidson, Findlay and Grove City.

The men finished their day in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., undefeated, easily beating North Carolina, Vassar, Sacred Heart and NYU. The women’s sabre team lost to Temple, 5-4, while the epee team beat the Owls, 5-4.

The Penn men’s swim team defeated five other schools in the weekend-long invitational with contributions from the whole squad.

One weekend, 20 bouts and 13 victories later, the Quakers made it clear they’re in it for real, winning 24-12 against No. 21 Lehigh and 21-12 against Hofstra.

The Quakers’ performance against Penn State was an irksome sight to behold, primarily due to a torrent of fouls. Penn ranks third out of 347 Division I teams in the nation in personal fouls per game.

Despite an impressive second half run that cut Penn State’s lead to just four late in the game, the Quakers just couldn’t get over the hump.

Junior Alyssa Baron reached her 1,000th career point on the same night the Quakers, for the first time in program history, defeated La Salle for a second straight time at the Palestra.

Obviously the team wants to win games, but the Quakers also understand they are all working on something much bigger right now.

The Red and Blue underwhelmed in their first victory in six contests, defeating Binghamton by nine points on Wednesday, and for coach Jerome Allen, the team needs to be excited about another chance to get better, regardless of their opponent.

Penn’s wrestling team is seeking revenge this weekend in a doubleheader against rivals Lehigh and Hofstra in its last chance to make a statement before winter break.

The Penn men’s and women’s squash teams will look to continue their winning ways as they travel to Williams on Friday.

Penn hopes to have a strong start in its first regular season tournament as they travel to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., for the Vassar Invitational.