Eric Karlan

The Ivy League crown is Penn's to lose. Just one year removed from sharing the Ivy tennis title with Brown, No. 69 Penn heads into the homestretch in complete control of its destiny: two wins over Cornell and Columbia, and the Quakers win the title outright for the first time in 36 years.

After his team began the year 1-7, Jason Pinsky was tired of hearing about how Penn couldn't win. "Everyone has been doubting us this whole year saying, 'you guys are losing every match,'" he said. "But we played eight top-20 teams in the country. As of now, it's really paying off.

If Penn is forced to share the Ivy League men's tennis crown again this season, it won't be with Brown. The Quakers swept their New England road trip this weekend, getting by Yale with a 4-3 victory on Friday before upsetting fellow defending co-champion Brown 5-2 the following afternoon.

When Penn opens up conference play Saturday afternoon in Princeton, N.J., the defending co-Ivy League champs have something to prove. In the latest collegiate men's tennis rankings, three Ivy League teams are ranked in the top 75. With a 7-4 record (2-4 against ranked opponents), Princeton sits at No.

They just need a breath of fresh air. The Penn men's tennis team (4-11) return home for the first time since before spring break for their first outdoor match on the Lott Courts, and could do with a win. Last Sunday, senior Mikhail Bekker picked up the team's only point in a 1-6 loss to No.

How does Penn baseball plan on ending its recent slump? Easy. Look no further than coach John Cole's desk. "We're bringing it into the dugout tomorrow," Cole said, pointing at a bona fide Easy Button from the Staples commercial. After migrating to Florida for its first eight games, Penn returns north, looking for an win in its home opener against Temple this afternoon at Meiklejohn Stadium.

A fired-up women's basketball team entered Jadwin Gymnasium last Tuesday evening just off its second Ivy-weekend sweep this year. It left as devastated 61-51 losers to rival Princeton in the final game of the season. "We don't like losing to Princeton," a sullen coach Pat Knapp said.

There is no Ivy League championship glistening at the end of the tunnel, but Penn women's basketball coach Pat Knapp and his team couldn't care less. When the squad heads north this weekend, it is hungrily seeking to repeat its Yale-Brown sweep of last month.

Too bad Penn's first win in a month had to be tainted by bad tennis etiquette. Following a 7-0 shutout of Drexel (1-3), sophomore Jonathan Boym, neglected to shake opponent Omar Laalej's hand after Boym won a heated 7-6, 6-4 battle until his coach Mark Riley forced him to return to the court.

Penn's flicker of hope for an improbable Ivy League women's basketball championship was short-lived. On Friday, Dartmouth (5-2 Ivy) continued its roll in a big way, as the Big Green won, 70-43. Harvard (6-1) held off the Quakers, 87-74, to maintain its spot atop the Ivy standings.