Despite getting victories from its top three players, the Penn women's squash team came up short this weekend against rival Princeton, 6-3.
After picking up a monumental victory in last season's win over the Tigers -- a 6-3 defeat of Princeton on Feb. 1, 2001, the Quakers notched the first-ever triumph at Princeton by any Penn squash team -- the Red and Blue were unable to overcome the Tigers for the second-consecutive year.
In last Thursday's match Penn's leading trio of Runa Reta -- fresh off her impressive performance at the Constable Invitational -- sophomore Dafna Wegner and freshman Linda McNair helped position the Quakers for another big win.
Reta, the two-time All-American junior from Ontario, stormed past her opponent at No. 1, notching a 3-0 victory.
The Quakers' Wegner and McNair followed suit, posting 3-0 blowouts themselves.
But it was the rest of the roster that did the Quakers in.
"Princeton is very solid at the bottom," sophomore Alex Black said.
If the Quakers are to turn the corner and win consistently in competitive Ivy League play, they are going to have to get significant contributions from their bottom players.
Against Princeton, the Red and Blue dropped 3-0 defeats at the Nos. 5, 6 and 8 positions.
Posing slightly more of a challenge to its rivals at the No. 7 and No. 9 spots, Penn was able to grab a game at each of these positions, but could not pull through at either spot for a critical victory.
"We had several very close matches at the bottom, we just were not able to pull them out," Black said. "That was our problem."
Looking to get over the tough defeat, the Quakers will have two chances to rebound this weekend with matches at both Harvard and Dartmouth.
This will be the final meet for the Quakers this season before competing in the Howe Cup -- the squash national championship.
Besides hoping to avenge last year's 5-4 defeat against the Crimson, Penn will be focused on conquering the Big Green for the second straight year.
Last season, the Quakers ripped Dartmouth, 7-2.
"We are really putting our focus towards winning against Dartmouth," Black said. "This is the match we are really trying to win."
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