M. Squash earns fifth straight victory

Squash is not for the faint of heart. For proof of this, look no further than the Penn men's squash team, which beat Williams, 8-1, last night in a frantic match whose final score could have been much closer. "It was a really good win," No. 12 nationally-ranked Richard Repetto said. "It looked pretty tight, but everyone picked it up. "The match instilled a lot of confidence." Penn coach Craig Thorpe-Clarke singled out Repetto and teammate, No. 3 Sam Miller, who won his match 9-7, 10-9, 9-2, for their performances. "We've gotten tougher with these matches as we've gone along," Thorpe-Clarke said of his players. The Red and Blue started out of the gate slowly, with four players losing their first games. But all four were able to rally and win their matches. "I think that as the match wore on, we played with greater control and accuracy," Thorpe-Clarke said. "Even though from out the back [of the court] it looks pretty even, our guys were doing less of the work. "The pressure is cumulative," he added. This weekend, Penn heads to Hartford, Conn. to take on four-time defending National Intercollegiate Squash Racquets Association champion Trinity. The Bantams will be the Quakers' toughest test of the season, as each of their top four players ranked higher than Penn's No. 1 Richard Repetto in the latest Squashtalk.com individual rankings. "Trinity is known for its extremely hostile crowd," Repetto said. "A lot of the campus shows up for the matches, especially since the facility that they just built is top of the line. "Let's face it, they are a Division III school. It's the only sport they'll probably win a national championship in." Repetto will face Colombia native and national No. 2 Bernardo Samper. "My game matches up well with his," said Repetto, who was one of only two players in the country to win a game against Samper last year. "I feel that I am stronger than I was last year.... Hopefully things will work out." Both player and coach noted that all the walls of the main exhibition court are made of glass at Trinity -- unlike Penn's main court -- and that the floor is painted blue. The players will use a white ball instead of the normal black one to provide the proper contrast. "That takes a little bit of getting used to," Thorpe-Clarke said. "It will give them a slight advantage," Repetto said. "I can count on one hand how many times I've played with a white ball. But the problems it will cause might not be that severe. "It's still the same game," he added. All of the other courts at the Kellner Squash Center have the same type of floor and walls as those at the Ringe Squash Courts. Despite the Bantams' lofty perch in the NISRA rankings, Thorpe-Clarke does not think his team is intimidated. "We're in a learning mode against Trinity," he said. "We have nothing to lose. You learn when you play the best, and this is a great opportunity for us."

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