Quakers look for redemption v. Dartmouth

The Penn men's squash team will have a lot to prove when it takes on Harvard and Dartmouth at the Ringe Squash Courts this weekend. The No. 8 Quakers will face the No. 3 Crimson on Saturday and the No. 7 Big Green on Sunday. On Saturday, the Red and Blue will be underdogs against a team which features three of the nation's top 10 individuals. However, Penn (8-4, 1-3 Ivy) knowing that a win against Harvard is a longshot, is anxiously awaiting the Big Green's arrival. "On Saturday, we've gotta go in there with the same sort of confidence and aggression that we do on Sunday," coach Craig Thorpe-Clarke said. "We're capable of challenging [Harvard]." Dartmouth will be the most important match of the season for the Quakers, and for many of the team's seniors, Sunday will be the mark the most important day of their careers. "This is the one that we are going to prove how much we've improved," Thorpe-Clarke said. "We are going to put it on the line. It's going to be tooth and nail for every point." With an 0-3 record against Dartmouth in the past three years, Penn is looking for redemption. Penn defeated Dartmouth, 7-2, in a scrimmage earlier this season, but it did not count toward their ranking. But the win did help the confidence of the Red and Blue. "We consider ourselves the favorites," senior co-captain Sam Miller said. "We haven't beaten Dartmouth in the four years I've been here. "This is the first time we've been the favorite." Penn, coming off a 9-0 victory against Franklin and Marshall, will enter Sunday's match -- regardless of Saturday's result --with unparalleled confidence and momentum. "This is the biggest match of the year for our team," sophomore Richard Repetto said. "They are a good team, but we're better." Penn's seniors and Thorpe-Clarke agree that this year's version of the Quakers is the best of their four-year tenure together. If Penn pulls out the victory, it will likely get the higher ranking that it thinks it deserves. The Quakers believe that when all is said and done, they will be regarded among the nation's elite six teams. "I think that we belong in the top six," Repetto said. "If we do what we've done all season, we'll get there. Right now, we just have to get past Dartmouth." Individually, Repetto -- currently No. 12 in the latest squashtalk.com individual national ranking -- believes that the polls have grossly underrated him as well as his Quakers. "I am very excited for this weekend," Repetto said. "If I do what I'm capable of doing and win the two matches, I can go back to the top six where I belong." Having competed against the nation's top two players -- Yasser El Halaby of Princeton and Bernardo Samper of Trinity -- in the past two weeks, Repetto should be well prepared when he takes on No. 7 Will Broadbent of Harvard and No. 8 Ryan Donegan of Dartmouth. However, Repetto did lose those two matches. "This is a big weekend for Rich," Thorpe-Clarke said. "He has been a little underrated to date, and both matches are winnable." Although the team's final ranking will not be determined until the national tournament, Sunday's match against Dartmouth is the first step in obtaining this realistic goal. "That's why we play sports," Miller said. "This is all I've been thinking about all week. We're as geared up for this as we'll ever be for a match."

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