The importance of beating Cornell tomorrow night is crystal clear. Figuring out how is a much trickier proposition, or at least it has been for the Ivy League opponents Cornell has faced so far. The first-place Big Red (14-6, 4-0 Ivy) have comfortably beaten Yale, Brown and Columbia (twice), and during their current nine-game win streak have compiled an average margin of victory of 22.

Not a single member of the Penn women's tennis program is old enough to rent a car from most companies. Although that may cause travel obstacles, it may be a good thing for the Quakers. The relative youth of the coaching staff - both interim coach Sara Schiffman and assistant Erin Katims are under 25 years old - could provide a necessary boost for the Penn women's tennis squad as it seeks to rebound from a 7-0 loss to Old Dominion and land its first victory of the season this weekend against Virginia Commonwealth and Richmond.

Though the Quakers' Ivy home-opener against Columbia tonight may seem like a mere distraction before Saturday's matchup against defending champion Cornell, Penn coach Glen Miller swears that the Goliath that is Big Red basketball isn't overshadowing a potential David in the foreground.

The men's tennis team does not typically travel very far for its matches, but it made an exception to face a talented team in No. 23 Miami. "I know the coach there and they are a very good team," coach Nik DeVore said. "We just couldn't pass up an opportunity to play there.

Judie Lomax hardly seems like an intimidating figure. The Columbia sophomore stands at a pedestrian 5-foot-11 - if anything undersized at her forward position - and plays for a historically meek Lions squad that has never posted a winning record in the Ivy League.

The schedule said Penn versus La Salle, but swimming coach Mike Schnur noticed another, more personal, competition occurring. "We have a lot of guys who know some guys from La Salle and had a lot of local bragging rights on the line," the coach said of his men's team.

Streak ended - two words that the Penn women's swimming team would not like to see in the recap of its meet with La Salle tonight. The Explorers (5-3) will be trying to do something they haven't in five years -- beat Penn - when the two teams meet at La Salle's Kirk Pool.

After helping Cornell win its first Ivy League title in 20 years while earning league Player of the Year honors, what can Louis Dale do this year for an encore? How about increase his average by 1.0 to 14.8 points per contest while shooting .548 from the field (.

Mike Schnur is getting bored. In the men swimming team's final dual meet of the season, the coach is making his distance swimmers sprint and his breaststrokers swim freestyle. Schnur's explanation? Just for the hell of it. Today, the Quakers (6-5) will finish up their regular season at LaSalle (3-5) before the ECAC, EISL and NCAA championships.

Let's be blunt: Glen Miller's line about Remy Cofield, the one Penn used to break the news that he was leaving, was contradicted by Cofield himself. Miller's statement read, in part: "Remy has been dealing with some ongoing family situations, and has reached a point where he feels it is in his best interests to spend more of his time focusing on them.

Nothing adds fuel to the fire of a fraternal rivalry like a little game of one-on-one. No blood, no foul. Usually the older brother will do whatever it takes to hold off his younger sibling. Columbia's freshmen point guard Steve Egee learned this reality all too well from growing up with his brother Kevin, Penn's senior two-guard.

Punxsutawney Phil may have just decreed that six more weeks are left in the winter season, but Penn wrestling coach Rob Eiter sees things a little differently. Eiter knows that both he and his Quakers (8-5, 3-1 EIWA) are capable of keeping their season rolling well into the seventh week after the famous groundhog's February 2 prediction.

Bob Klein was overcome with emotion after the conclusion of the final college sporting event that will ever take place at the Wachovia Spectrum. The Penn club hockey coach took his sweet old time leaving the ice, intent on soaking in every moment of the historic day.

Forgive Cameron Lewis. He hardly seems like the type to hold a grudge. In fact, draped in a cotton T-shirt and baggy practice shorts before an afternoon shootaround, the Quakers' six-foot-eight, 225-pound big man looks about as innocuous as anyone with the job description "lane-clogger" possibly can.

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Let's start out with a couple of riddles. What has thousands of wings but has never flown once?

If there was a turning point in the women's basketball season, it was probably the turning of the calendar from 2008 to 2009. On Dec. 31, the Quakers (3-14, 0-3 Ivy) defeated St. Francis for their third win in four games. Since then, Penn has lost seven straight, including three in the Ivy League.