The Penn women's squash team is currently ranked seventh in the Ivy League -- but probably not for long.
Last weekend at the Ivy League Scrimmage in Princeton, the Quakers enjoyed a convincing 8-1 win over sixth-ranked Brown in the team competition.
Last season, the Quakers lost to every Ivy opponent and ended with dismal 0-7 League record. Even though Saturday's match was only a scrimmage, things are looking up for the Red and Blue.
On Sunday, in the individual tournament Penn's senior captain Runa Reta, in an outstanding effort, defeated each of Harvard, Yale, and Brown's No. 1 players to win the overall championship in the first division.
Sophomore Linda McNair also turned out a solid performance, finishing fifth in the same division.
Although the Quakers fell to top ranked Yale 6-3, they were able to defeat both of the Elis' top two ranked players. Freshman Tyler Pearce, who is also a Daily Pennsylvanian sports writer, also recorded a win against Yale.
"A lot of [whether we win] depends on the middle. We're strong on experience in the number one, two, and three spots, but so is every other school," Penn coach James Martel said. "The majority of our matches will be won and lost by our 4-9 spots, but we like to think that the middle of our lineup is fairly strong and can compete with any other school."
For the rest of the season, the Quakers will rely heavily on the lower half of the ladder to perform well, even though it is comprised mostly of freshmen.
This weekend "was a big eye opener for the freshmen," Coach Martel said, "We left with a really good feeling that with a little bit more hard work in skill development and game strategy, we can jump to third or fourth in the Ivy League."
If last weekend is any indication of the strength of the freshman class, then the Quakers will probably fare well for the remainder of the season.
All six of the Quakers' freshmen played on both Saturday and Sunday, and each of them notched at least one win a piece. Lily Evans did particularly well, and placed second in her division in Sunday's individual tournament.
"Their inexperience may hurt them, but their enthusiasm more than makes up for it," Martel said. "As the season wears on and confidence grows, we should have some interesting matches.
"We have a really young team, and it's going to be fun to come out and watch these girls play."
The Quakers next home match against Cornell is their first Ivy League match-up of the regular season.
Before the Quakers take on Cornell, however, they will play their first match of the regular season versus Franklin and Marshall on Wednesday in Lancaster, Pa.
"We should be fine. They have a fairly young program and we feel we're going to play really well against them," Martel said, "It will be a nice way to start the season."
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