M. Squash clawed by Tigers

It's not often that a college sports team has to play the top two teams in the country in a five-day span. But the No. 8 Penn men's squash team has had to do just that -- with the expected results. And after a 9-0 loss at No. 1 Trinity, the Quakers found themselves on the wrong end of the same score last night against No. 2 Princeton at the Jadwin Squash Courts. "All in all, we weren't going into the match expecting to beat them," senior co-captain Sam Miller said. "But to be honest, we were expecting to do better than we did. Especially toward the bottom of the ladder, we can absolutely compete with them." "We knew going in that they are a very strong team and most likely we were going to have a tough night," freshman Jacob Himmelrich said. "But I think once we got on court, we realized just how strong they are." Princeton boasts three of the nation's top-ranked players, including nationally-ranked No. 1 Yasser El-Halaby, No. 8 William Evans and No. 6 David Yik, who defeated Miller. Tigers senior Eric Pearson, a Philadelphia native, played No. 1 for the U.S. junior national team at the 1998 World Junior Championships, which was held at Princeton. "Their top four or five are all way too strong for us," Penn coach Craig Thorpe-Clarke said. El-Halaby defeated Trinity No. 1 Bernardo Samper -- the 2002 National Intercollegiate Squash Racquet Association Individual Champion -- earlier this season. Penn No. 1 Richard Repetto, meanwhile, lost to Samper in Penn's last match. "It's a learning experience," Miller said. "I always look forward to playing those guys." The team was unhappy with its inability to capitalize at the bottom of the ladder, perceived as "relatively weaker" by Himmelrich. "I think the lower half of our ladder felt they had a better chance, and on paper they probably did," he said. "They are still extremely strong.... I think perhaps we were a little bit too confident," he added. Thorpe-Clarke also felt that the team could have played better. "We took the back seat," he said. "We let them control the match. "We've been the aggressor in past matches and we didn't step up ready for the fight tonight." Junior Dan Rottenberg was the only Quaker to win a game against the Tigers, doing so at the No. 9 position. "They are a tough team," Rottenberg said. "Against good players, you always play well." "I think this guy raised my level of play," he added. Miller tried to keep a level head about the team's performances over the last week. "It's only going to make us better for the rest of the season," he said. "Even though the result didn't turn out in our favor the last two matches, we competed better because we were a stronger team. We're deeper than in past years." The Quakers will next take on Penn State and Franklin and Marshall in a double-header on Sunday afternoon. Despite the mental burden of consecutive shutouts, the Quakers look to put the losses behind them and move on with their four remaining regular season matches. "All in all, we can't be disappointed because the season's gone well," sophomore Chris Miller said. "We really have to look past today and focus on the matches we can win, which are coming up in a week."

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