The defending Ivy League champion women's tennis took the first step in re-asserting itself atop the Ancient Eight on Saturday. The No. 72 Quakers used a complete team effort - each woman who played won at least one match, either in singles or doubles - to knock off No.

Unlike Little League baseball, there's no 10-goal mercy rule in women's lacrosse. But if there were, Saturday's matchup between Penn and Columbia would've ended well before 60 minutes were up: The Lions were thoroughly thrashed, 13-2. That gave the Quakers reason to cheer when they lined up in front of a sparsely populated grandstand to sing their rendition of "The Red and the Blue" after the game.

If there were ever a time when one person could impact an entire weekend of softball, this was it. Quakers freshman pitcher Jessie Lupardus left her mark on the weekend as Penn hosted a pair of doubleheaders against Yale and Brown. Going in with the lowest earned run average in all of Division-I softball (0.

Cornell midfielder John Glynn won the opening faceoff, weaved through the Penn defense and found teammate Ryan Hurley wide open in front of the net. Hurley shot and scored. The game may as well have been over. Cornell hung eight consecutive goals on the Quakers, holding them scoreless for the first 40 minutes of the game en route to a 13-5 victory.

For the women's golf team, 13 days is all it takes to finish the spring season. The Quakers tee off at the Hoya Invitational today - just one week after their opener - for their last tournament before Ivy Championships. "Several Ivy League schools competing so it will be a nice gauge for us to see where we are and what we've done with our spring break," coach Francis Vaughn said - although he said the same thing before last weekend's First Market Bank Invitational, at which his squad finished 17th out of 20.

For the Penn gymnastics team, the journey may be over for all but one. Junior Jordan Brewer will find out tomorrow whether her score is good enough to join teammate Marissa Rosen - who has already qualified - at NCAA Regionals. But for the rest of the Quakers, the season ended Saturday in Williamsburg with a sixth-place finish in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championship.

Just one match into the Ivy League season, the men's tennis team's season is still far from over. But after losing 5-2 to No. 71 Princeton in front of a boisterous crowd at Levy Tennis Pavilion, Penn's chances of winning the Ivy League title are already fading.

This early in the season, the mound is no place for freshmen. Tell that to the trio of young right-handers who stifled Penn's opponents this weekend. Freshmen Jeremy Maas, Paul Cusick and Sam Gilbert combined to pitch 20 innings over three games and gave up zero earned runs - one unearned run on Maas against Yale the only blemish.

Midway through yesterday afternoon at Meiklejohn Stadium, the Penn baseball team was staring a completely fruitless weekend dead in the face. Having lost and tied in their two Saturday games against Yale - the nightcap was suspended due to darkness in extra innings - the Quakers had started off the Sunday twinbill with yet another loss to Brown.

Without a clear-cut favorite, Penn gymnastics' chance of winning is as good as anyone's. After finishing third in the Ivy League, the Quakers have a chance to win the conference. Tomorrow, they will compete in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships at William and Mary.

Against Cornell on Saturday, the Penn men's lacrosse team is out to settle a score - an odd thing for a team that gave the Big Red their only Ivy League loss in the last three years. In 2006, Penn stunned No. 2 Cornell 8-6 at Franklin Field. It was the Big Red's only conference defeat since 2004, when they also lost to the Quakers.

The last time the Penn baseball team shared a field with Brown, the Bears dumped 20 runs on the visiting Quakers to complete a two-game sweep in the Ivy League Championship Series last May. This time around, the defending champs come to West Philly to renew the rivalry.

Women's tennis meets against the Tigers have always been a little special. "There's a certain rivalry with Princeton," senior Julia Koulbitskaya said. For the four seniors on the team, Saturday's trip up I-95 will be extra special: It will be a chance for them to go out as winners against the Tigers.

For the Penn men's tennis team, relief is coming at the right time. After spending the better part of its season with a rash of injuries, the team looks to return to full strength tomorrow when it faces No. 64 Princeton (8-5) at Lott Courts in both teams' Ivy opener.

Softball freshman Taylor Tieman knew that college was a place to try new things. But she didn't think that would apply on the field, too. A pitcher in high school, Tieman has seen most of her action at third base for the Quakers. This weekend, the team will need relief from her right arm - along with solid infield play and offensive production - if it wants to emerge victorious in its first Ivy League games.

With five games in 15 days, the women's lacrosse team needed a break. S=ix match-free days following its Cornell match on Sunday allowed the Quakers to catch their breath. But now that time is up, as No. 8 Penn (6-1, 2-0 Ivy) will take on a middling Columbia team (3-4, 0-2) tomorrow at Franklin Field.

Jason Pinsky left no doubt about the importance of yesterday's No. 1 singles match against Saint John's Artem Vlasenko. He drove the message home on the very first point. A high-arcing Pinsky forehand sailed just a little longer than desired. Vlasenko let the ball bounce without a return, signaling that the ball landed out.