At its best, Penn baseball is a team with hitters who can knock the ball out of the park and pitchers with special stuff. At their worst, the Quakers are an immature team prone to inconsistency at the plate and on the mound. During its first four-game series of the season, both sides showed up.

ST. LOUIS - For Rollie Peterkin, the March 19-21 NCAA Tournament was the same disappointment, just a different year. Just like in 2008, the Penn 125-pound wrestler advanced all the way to the round of 12 - the round just before All-American status is guaranteed - only to lose a close match and see his dreams of placing at nationals go up in smoke.

"Rusty" is the best way to describe the Penn women's golf team's performance this past weekend, according to coach Mark Anderson. "That's expected for the first tournament in the spring, especially coming from the northeast," Anderson said. "It's good to have a tournament like this to see what we need to work on, even though we didn't play great.

Deja vu. The members of the Penn softball team had seen it all too recently as the second game of their doubleheader against Monmouth ended Saturday. After a 1-0 loss in the first game, the Quakers fell to the Hawks by the same score - and in almost the same exact fashion - in the nightcap.

Two teams, 36 innings. That's more than your typical meet-and-greet. Fortunately, familiarity seems to favor Penn's baseball team; after dropping its first game to Georgetown several weeks ago by a double digit margin, the team rebounded to win four of the remaining five games against the Hoyas.

Villanova won the game but lost its luster. The Wildcats looked nothing like a No. 3 seed until the final ten minutes of its 80-67 first-round win over American at the Wachovia Center. They'll move on to face No. 6 UCLA in the NCAA Tournament's second round tomorrow, but uncertainty is now surrounding them like a cloud.

Walking 36 holes - nearly nine miles total - while carrying heavy clubs and still keeping a competitive attitude is a tough challenge, but Lisette Vitter is confident her team can handle it. "I think our team can do it, I think we're all very hard workers," the Penn women's golf captain said.

The Penn men's golf team cancelled its spring break tournament, participating in fundraising and exhibition events instead. Still, coach Scott Allen believes his team's break experience will help everyone be ready for the start of the spring season this weekend.

Penn men's golf conquered the wind, questions about their depth, and 19 other teams this weekend in Bethany Beach, Del., so it's certainly understandable that two teams managed to slip through their grasp. Minus their star senior Mike Blodgett, the Quakers used a strong collective effort to finish third among the 22 schools participating in the George Washington Invitational at Bear Trap Dunes.

When a defender appears on a scouting report, you know she means business. Cornell senior Deirdre Lafferty is that defender. So she is a threat that the No. 3 Penn women's lacrosse team will be aware of in tomorrow's matchup against the No. 14 Big Red at 1 p.

After a three-game skid, the men's lacrosse team is in need of serious redemption. It gets the chance to turn its season around when it travels to New England, taking on Harvard tomorrow and Division I newcomer Bryant Sunday afternoon. For now, the Quakers (1-3, 0-1 Ivy) are focusing on the No.

It looks as if the NCAA Wrestling tournament seeding committee knew what it was doing when it handed out just one seed to a Penn participant. The only seeded grappler for the Quakers (12-7, 6-3 EIWA), No. 8 Rollie Peterkin at 125 pounds, was the the only Red and Blue wrestler to make it to the quarterfinals of his weightclass.

Only15 games into its season, the Penn softball team already faces a must-win game if it hopes to preserve its chances of finishing with a winning overall record. For the streaky Quakers (4-11), this scenario is very familiar. Last year, after losing eight straight games about midway through the season, the Quakers responded with a dominant 7-0 victory over Villanova that allowed them to regain their confidence and finish strongly with an 8-4 record in their final 12 games.

In a sport predicated on individual accomplishments, 11th-ranked 149-pounder Cesar Grajales and the No. 24 Penn wrestling team (12-7, 6-3 EIWA) understand the importance of unity. Grajales sees ardent support from fellow Quaker grapplers as a major factor to being successful at this weekend's NCAA Tournament, which runs today through Saturday at the Scottrade Center in St.

Welcome to college baseball, boys. Shortstop Derek Vigoa and pitcher Chris McNulty have officially been collegiate athletes for under a month, but they played beyond their years yesterday, leading Penn to an 11-6 win over Temple in Ambler, Pa. Vigoa went 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles and an RBI bunt single, keeping the Quakers' offensive outburst rolling.

It's March Madness, baby! Penn might be out of the tournament again, but three familiar faces are on your bracket. No. 14 Cornell will face No. 3 Missouri, the third time in four years that the Ivy rep has faced a Big 12 team. No. 11 Temple meanwhile has a legit chance to pull an upset, facing No.

With two outs in the fifth inning of the second game of its doubleheader against Saint Joseph's yesterday, the Penn softball team appeared poised to retire the high-powered Hawks offense in a quick three up, three down fashion. Down by two runs, the Quakers were still well within striking distance of pulling off a come-from-behind victory.