At its core, the Palestra is a gathering place for members of the Penn community. No matter if the event is basketball, gymnastics, volleyball, or wrestling, the arena does its job of bringing people together.

The Red and Blue completed the sweep over Harvard on the road last Sunday, with both the men and women scoring solid victories on another productive day.

After a slow start that featured a slew of missed layups, the Quakers pulled away to defeat Iona, 66-43, in just the third all-time matchup between the two schools.

Though it wasn’t necessarily clear from the score that the game’s outcome was apparent, the eye test told another story. The Quakers had taken La Salle’s best shot, weathered the storm, and looked ready to run away with the contest. 

With six freshmen on the men’s team and seven on the women’s, many have already had standout performances to start their young careers.

With the loss of several key seniors, the introduction of a new freshmen squad, and the departure of senior Justin Yoo for a shot at the Olympics, both Penn men's fencing and the rest of the Ivy League will look far different from last year. 

Coming off an impressive showing in New York last week, the Quakers are optimistic about their chances this weekend.

Each of these teams overcame sub-par finishes from years past to blow away all expectations the outside world had of them. Here are the most surprising Ivy League regular season championships from the past 10-plus years.

An Atlanta native, Izenson provides a significant amount of international experience to Penn fencing’s sabre squad. 

After losing to the La Salle Explorers (0-7) the last two seasons, Penn women's basketball (4-2) will look to halt that trend Wednesday night at the Palestra.

After three days of competition, the men placed second with 728 points while the women finished with 288 points in fifth place. 

Penn men’s squash won both matches it competed in this weekend, defeating No. 5 Rochester 6-3 on Saturday and No. 4 St. Lawrence 7-2 on Sunday.

In this week's edition of Is Stat So?, Penn men's squash continued its hot start, wrestling saw production from several freshmen, and school records were broken by athletes on track and field.

Starting its season on a high note, Penn track and field turned in a strong performance this weekend, which featured impressive debuts from newcomers and personal bests from returning athletes.

On Saturday, the Red and Blue will travel to Rochester, where they will challenge the Yellowjackets. The next day, they will trek to face off against the Saints at St. Lawrence. 

Last year Penn women’s basketball went 22-9, made the Ivy league championship and notched a win in the first round of the WNIT. Yet, after graduating first team All-Ivy forward Michelle Nwokedi, there were some questions as to how the team would adjust this season with a new front-court partner for sophomore center Eleah Parker.

For their final meet of 2018, the Quakers will take on Tennessee, Duke, Penn State, Denver, and Carson-Newman at the Tennessee Invitational this week.