W. Squash seeks redemption

Despite Penn senior Runa Reta's victory over Amina Helal of Trinity on Sunday -- the No. 1 player in the nation -- the Penn women's squash team (4-2, 2-1 Ivy) was far from satisfied with the 7-2 loss overall, despite Trinity's No. 1 ranking in the team polls. The Quakers will travel to the Mayser Center to take on Franklin and Marshall in Lancaster, Pa., tomorrow to make amends for the loss. "All of our players were disappointed after the Trinity match," junior co-captain Dafna Wegner said. Today's Franklin and Marshall match, which was originally scheduled as the season opener on Nov. 20, was postponed at the last minute and rescheduled for today. After Sunday's grueling match against Trinity, the Quakers will face a much easier opponent in Franklin and Marshall. The Diplomats remain winless in the 2002-2003 campaign at 0-5. Since Franklin and Marshall is less talented than most of Penn's Ivy League opponents, the Quakers will not be sending their top three players, All-Americans Reta, sophomore Linda McNair and Wegner. "We previously decided in November not to play to give the younger players a chance," Wegner said. "Now we're sticking to our decision." After graduating its only All-American last year --Anjali Ponni Rajkumar -- Franklin and Marshall has been struggling to compete with the nation's top teams. In fact, the Diplomats have not won a single game since their opening 6-3 loss to Haverford on Nov. 16, dropping five straight 9-0 decisions. With the absence of Reta, McNair and Wegner, the Quakers will be looking to sophomore Rohini Gupta and freshman Lorin Riley for solid performances. Both tallied impressive victories against Amherst and Brown earlier in the season. "We feel really confident that we should be able to win," Gupta said. "All of our players are really focused after the Trinity match." The last time the Quakers competed without all of their players was in their opening match against Haverford on Nov. 23. Despite the absence of Reta and Wegner, the Quakers won, 9-0. Last year, Penn easily handled Franklin and Marshall, 8-1. The Quakers are currently ranked No. 6 in the nation by the College Squash Association, while Franklin and Marshall recently dropped from No. 23 to No. 27. Despite a senior-laden team, the Diplomats failed to place any players in the top 10 of the College Squash Association's 2002-2003 preseason rankings. Despite that disparity, the Quakers are not looking past F&M.; "They are ranked pretty far below us so we are expecting a win," McNair said. "But we won't take anything for granted."

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