Matt Fine

Heading into this weekend, Penn men’s tennis knew that this was going to be one of, if not the toughest, pair of matches the team would face all season. The Quakers took on Columbia and Cornell this weekend, dropping both matches to the top-25 ranked programs.

It was a busy weekend for the Penn men’s and women’s tennis teams with both teams splitting a pair of matches. The women’s squad played their first match of the weekend on the road in College Park to take on the No. 42 ranked Terrapins, falling 6-1.

Coming into the weekend, Penn men's basketball’s chances to make the Ivy League Tournament and compete for a March Madness bid seemed almost nonexistent. The Quakers were not shooting well, and seemed unable to hold teams off down the stretch in games. But by early Sunday afternoon, it appears as though the Red and Blue have life once again.

This season has not been kind to Penn men’s basketball. Coming into Friday’s game against Columbia, the Quakers were winless in six Ivy League contests and in desperate need of a better performance to have any shot of making the Ivy League Tournament. The Red and Blue were able to gut out the victory on the back of 48 rebounds and 12 three-pointers. Let’s go to the player ratings.

In just under seven years, Penn men's tennis' Kyle Mautner turned from a kid who practiced very little into one of the most highly touted recruits in the country and one of the best players in the Ivy League. The path to this point required hard work and a lot of time away from home, but for Mautner, it was all part of a special opportunity that has led to him playing at the top of the Quakers’ lineup.

There were mixed results for Penn men's tennis in the opening weekend of its spring season, as the Red and Blue kicked off the year down in the Volunteer State with a win over Middle Tennessee State and a sweep at the hands of Vanderbilt.

When Yale men's basketball beat Baylor in the first round of the 2015 NCAA tournament, the entire sports world celebrated the win as a "victory for the nerds." The kids who studied textbooks at halftime had defeated a Big 12 school on the biggest stage.

Penn men’s basketball knew that its opening set of non-conference games to start the season would be challenging. The Quakers were right.

When Kris Jenkins hit a buzzer-beating three to defeat North Carolina and give Villanova the NCAA national championship, the entire city of Philadelphia celebrated. Fast forward eight months, and the Wildcats are 6-0, ranked No. 2 in the country and playing like a team poised for another title run. On Tuesday night, Penn basketball will be taking on the defending champions and Big 5 rival at the Palestra for the Quakers’ home opener. 

This Saturday, Penn will be facing a very different type of opponent as the Quakers (1-0) will fly down to Miami to take on the Hurricanes (2-0), one of the most highly touted ACC programs.