The outlier there, the 6-5, is Penn women’s squash's record this year — a stark departure from the years of dominance seen in those prior three records. After consistently leading the pack in the Ivy League, what accounts for the struggles that this team has faced?

Penn men's and women's squash was on the road this weekend facing a double header against Dartmouth and Harvard. 

That’s why, after losing to perennial powerhouse Trinity, Penn men’s and women’s squash are confident going into Wednesday’s match against Princeton that they can both bring home crucial Ivy League wins.

As Penn women’s squash (5-3, 1-1 Ivy) enters its main extended stretch of conference play this season of the season against Princeton (9-0, 2-0), the Red and Blue’s lineup will be bolstered by the recent return of senior No. 2 Melissa Alves, who went undefeated last season and is back for more.

Since joining the team as a walk-on, the freshman has accumulated a seven-game winning streak. She has now risen all the way up to No. 6 on the squash ladder. 

That team in the mid-80s got its season off to a prolific 10-0 start, and eventually finished the season with a 10-2 record. The men of 2018 currently stand at an 8-2 record, are ranked No. 5 in the nation, and are showing plenty of signs that their season can eclipse that of the 1985 team.

As the classic song goes, “anything you can do I can do better.” For Penn women's squash’s Reeham Sedky, this very well could be the case. The two-time defending CSA finalist has taken her game up yet another level, now training with Penn's men’s team.

In large part due to freshman phenom Andrew Douglas, Penn men's squash is off to its best start since 1985. Douglas, who has played at the No. 1 spot all season, has come in and made an instant impact. In fact, the Quakers (8-2, 2-0 Ivy) are currently ranked No. 5 in the nation.

In this week's edition of Is Stat So?, more school and pool records fall, and Penn men's squash runs up against an opponent it cannot handle.

On the men’s side, the Quakers (8-2, 2-0 Ivy) left Connecticut without an individual win, falling 9-0 to the undefeated No. 1 Bantams (7-0, 2-0 NESCAC). For the women’s squad, the results were not much more glamorous, as the final tally came in 7-2 for No. 2 Trinity.

Of course, braving the sub-zero temperatures and seemingly endless bus rides was not purely for fun. This “vacation” was actually a NCAA-sanctioned international tour, which is allowed once every four years. And, with this being the lucky year, coach Jack Wyant took his squad north for the training retreat.

In this week's edition of Is Stat So?, we look at several individual and team records that were broken this weekend, as well as a few key numbers that allowed men's squash and women's basketball to emerge victorious.

Just a week after freshman Andrew Douglas’ comeback win to beat No. 6 Rochester, Penn needed another ninth game win to beat Yale 5-4. Meanwhile, Penn’s women fell to the Elis by the same score. Against Brown on Sunday, both teams eliminated any chance for a dramatic ending by sweeping the Bears 9-0.  

Although the temperature may be dropping, it's heating up at the Ringe Courts to kick off 2018. Led by a gutsy three-set comeback by freshman Andrew Douglas in the final match of the night, Penn men’s squash pulled out a 5-4 nail-biter over Rochester on Wednesday, ringing in the new year emphatically and ushering in an action-packed weekend for both Red and Blue squads. 

For many teams at Penn, there is one event that stands out over the others: The Ivy League Championship.

With various teams engaging in some instant classic battles, the Quakers have given fans a wild range of emotions throughout the calendar year, with the lone constant being thorough entertainment across the board.

"I had so much adrenaline, so it didn't really affect me until after the match," Sedky explained seven hours later, with her nose still bleeding. "It did sting in the beginning, but it was fine."