Blue walls don't give Quakers the blues

Most definitions of a strong home court advantage relate to crowd noise. However, for the Trinity squash team, it's the color scheme of the court that makes all the difference.

"They've got two tri-glass-walled courts that are actually tinted blue and then the front wall is a solid painted blue, " Penn women's squash coach Jack Wyant said after the Quakers played at Trinity on Saturday. "You [also] play with a white ball . They have the most difficult courts to play on in the country."

This is such a tough environment because most teams, like the Quakers, are accustomed to playing with a black ball in courts with three white walls and a clear glass back.

Despite the Bantams' home court advantage, the Quakers had little trouble on Saturday, downing Trinity in a convincing 7-2 match victory. The No. 2 Quakers remain undefeated at 8-0, while the No. 5 Bantams fell to 7-2 on the season.

"What the team did a beautiful job of doing was adapting to those foreign surroundings pretty quickly," Wyant said.

Overcoming the unique court, the Quakers' only match losses were at the No. 3 and No. 5 spots in their lineup, although both were by 3-0 margins.

Lauralynn Drury, who anchored Penn at the No. 9 spot, won her match 3-0 to give the Red and Blue an early lead.

"We're used to playing on the white courts, so that changes a lot," said Drury, a senior co-captain.

"We were able to focus and pull through and adjust to so many different factors. Our ability to . play our game in very different circumstances stuck out."

Such a victory gives confidence to a squad already in the mix for a national title run.

"Our confidence level is pretty high right now, but we use it for a good thing. It's not to a level that we would be cocky," said Drury.

"This confidence will translate into us working harder and preparing meticulously for this Wednesday because this is the biggest match of the season and this determines how we will finish."

The Wednesday match to which Drury referred is against Princeton, the No. 1 team in the nation.

She and Wyant-a Princeton alumnus and former squash All-American for the Tigers-both agreed that the Tigers are stronger than the Bantams.

"We've got nothing to lose, we're going up against the best team in the country," Wyant said.

Riding high from their victory at Trinity, the Quakers will try to take down the Tigers Wednesday at 7 p.m. at home.

It will be a revenge match for a Penn squad that rolled into Princeton with the No. 1 ranking last season and left with their national titles hopes derailed.

And after having to adjust to Trinity's court, the Quakers will certainly be glad to go back to the staid - but familar - white walls of Ringe Courts.

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