They've been so close, they could almost taste it. For consecutive years, Penn softball has reigned supreme in the Ivy South Division.

Following last May’s season-ending loss in the Ivy League Championship Series to Dartmouth, Penn softball said a heartfelt goodbye to a talented group of graduating seniors.

Penn is having deja vu all over again. Two years ago, the Quakers beat Princeton on the road to clinch the Ivy League title and then traveled to College Park, Md., to face Texas.

In poker and in softball, having an ace dramatically increases the likelihood of victory. In the initial stretches of the season, however, it is clear that Penn softball will have to bet with different odds.

The Ivy League Council of Presidents voted to approve a four-team post-season tournament for men’s and women’s basketball.

Not long ago, none of this would have seemed possible

It's hard to imagine Kasey Chambers scripting it any better.

The popular wheel-heeled sneakers of elementary school days are making a comeback among team members.

Setting career-bests in nearly every statistical category imaginable, the 6-foot-4 junior has seized a central role for Penn, leading a team already surpassed last season’s win total in both conference play and the regular season as a whole.

After attempting just six three-pointers her entire freshman year, Lauren Whitlatch emerged as the Quakers’ new sharpshooter heading into her sophomore season.

Photoshopping Vladimir Putin amongst other things onto pictures of her teammate in play, Marta Kowalska, with her friend and doubles’ partner OJ Singh, crafts a Facebook-worthy cover photo to advertise this weekend’s match against Maryland.

When Eric Schultz was a senior at La Salle College High School and considering Penn as the place he would spend the next four years swimming, he never dreamed of becoming an Ivy League champion.

Nelson-Henry has as dominating of a presence as life allows. 

As Drake so eloquently said, “Started from the bottom, now we here.” For Max Reed, that story is all too true. The freshman from Lebanon, N.H., has taken a unique and — at times — bumpy path in his short career, but certainly is back on top.

A coach, a lawyer and a swimmer walk into a bar. Sounds like the beginning of bad joke.

Looking at the ranking of the men’s and women’s college squash tells two very different stories.

Penn may not be best known for cranking out young superstars, but after this year, they just might.