Three important matches are on the horizon for the Penn men's squash team.
Tonight, the Quakers will welcome Princeton to the Ringe Squash Courts at 7:30, and Saturday afternoon they will take on a club team from Penn State and a deceptively strong Franklin and Marshall team.
The Red and Blue will look to use the experience they gained by playing No. 1 ranked Trinity last week to propel them to victory over the Tigers.
Tonight's match will be the most competitive of the three matches.
"Princeton is currently the No. 4 team in the nation and will be a tough match for us,"Penn third-year coach Craig Thorpe-Clark said.
The Quakers will look to take advantage of Princeton's weaker players at the bottom of the ladder.
"Princeton is tough at the one through five positions, but they tend to struggle at six through nine," junior co-captain Elan Levy said.
Princeton will bring to town the defending individual national champion, junior David Yik. Penn's No. 1, freshman Richard Repetto, will look to get back to his winning ways after losing his first match of the year -- and his collegiate career -- to Bernardo Samper of Trinity.
"Yik is an experienced player with a lot of speed on the court," Repetto said. "If I am able to hit the shots I want and gain control of the match early, I should be able to beat him."
Should the Quakers knock off Princeton tonight, they will set themselves up to finish the weekend with victories over both Penn State and Franklin and Marshall.
The Nittany Lions will field a club team against Penn.
"We'll kill Penn State, 9-0," Levy said.
The match against Penn State, while not a high point on the Quakers' schedule, is still significant for other reasons.
"We'll play some lower guys on the ladder so they gain experience against a lesser opponent like Penn State," Levy said.
After the Penn State match the Red and Blue will take on an underrated Franklin and Marshall team.
The Diplomats, currently No. 14 in the nation, will bring a team whose strength is concentrated at the top of the ladder.
"The depth of our team is one our great strengths this year," Thorpe-Clark said. "Our depth should serve us well against both Princeton and F&M; this weekend."
After splitting a two-match series with the Diplomats last year, Penn will look to secure a victory in the only scheduled meeting between the two teams this year.
The Quakers will be missing senior co-captain John Griffin and freshman Andrew Crockett due to injury. Penn hopes that its depth will help to compensate for the absence of the tandem.
The Quakers will take each match one at a time this weekend.
"The Princeton match will be a challenge for us, but a challenge I know we can rise to," Thorpe-Clark said. "After that, we'll wait and see what happens this weekend."
The thoughts of coach Thorpe-Clark's players mirror his "wait and see" attitude.
"We're definitely ready to go for Princeton and the other two matches this weekend," Repetto said. "The Trinity match prepared us well, so we'll go out and try to win three straight matches."
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