Without three of its starters, M. Squash loses to Cornell

Penn's reserves went 0-3 as the Big Red handed the Quakers their first defeat of the year, 6-3. Everything seemed to be against the Penn men's squash team going into its match against Cornell on Saturday. A young, inexperienced team under a new head coach, Penn was missing three of its top players. Worst of all, the Quakers were playing on narrower courts than that to which they were accustomed. Any one of those reasons would be enough to defeat most teams, and yet the Quakers stuck it out, putting up a fight against the Big Red. But, in the world of sports, almost does not count, and the Quakers now own an 0-1 record after suffering a 6-3 defeat to Cornell. Heading into the match, the Quakers -- who beat Cornell in early November during a scrimmage -- knew the match would be tough. Sophomore Mukund Khaitan and freshman Matt Stone were both injured and unable to play. Add to that sophomore Roberto Kriete's inability to make the trip, and Penn was missing three of its top 10 athletes. Coach Craig Thorpe-Clark was forced to call on freshmen Andrew Dewing and Julien Bonaficio and sophomore Vinil Shah to replace the unavailable athletes. In their first varsity competition, all were swept, 3-0. "They did pretty well but inexperience and nerves really hurt them," Thorpe-Clark said. "It's a scary environment. You have to go through it a couple of times before you are comfortable." The comfort level was a definite factor in all of the matches. The Big Red still compete on older, narrower squash courts than the Quakers. Though the Red and Blue practiced on courts like Cornell's to prepare for the match, the host's homecourt advantage held up. "Their courts are without a doubt one of the reasons we lost," freshman Elan Levy said. "If we had played them here, there is no doubt in my mind that we would have won." However, even with Cornell's homecourt advantage, the Penn team battled throughout. The Quakers managed to steal three games from Cornell and lost two decisive games in close fashion. Leading the Penn charge were victorious co-captains Peter Withstandley and Andrew Hopkins. Withstandley, playing at No. 2, swept Jeff Porter 3-0, while Hopkins beat Andrew Silipo, 3-1, at No. 5. "Both [Hopkins and Withstandley] played very well," Thorpe-Clark said. "They've taken the responsibility upon themselves and are very well prepared and organized. They are doing good jobs as captains, as well as on the squash court." Another athlete doing well on the courts this weekend was the third winner for the Red and Blue -- Levy, a newcomer to the sport. The Houston native, who is a nationally ranked racquetball player, only began to play squash upon arriving at Penn. However, his inexperience was not evident, as he defeated Tripper Heckscher 3-0. "Elan has done great for someone who hasn't played squash," Thorpe-Clark said. "He may be sort of inexperienced from a squash point of view but he is just a tenacious, ferocious competitor." Others who proved their competitiveness in Ithaca were sophomore John Griffin and freshman Sam Miller. The two battled -- playing higher in the lineup than they normally would -- before each eventually succumbed to his opponent, 3-2. Griffin, competing at No. 3, lost to Rahul Roy, while Miller lost to Ki Nam in the No. 6 spot. Although the team's loss was a disappointment, the team has not lost confidence in its ability. If anything, given the adverse circumstances the Quakers faced, the close match has provided Penn with hope. "This match was definitely not indicative of how good we can be," Levy said. "This weekend it just didn't happen, but at some point it will. Once we get everyone together and get our lineup solidified and everybody clicking on all cylinders, we'll be ready to go."

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