As many Penn students journey across campus this weekend for Rush, the men's squash team will be on a trek of its own, rushing through New England for a series of crucial mid-season matches against non-conference foes.
Riding a two-match winning streak after three early losses, Penn (2-3, 1-2 Ivy) looks to get to .500 for the first time this season - and even better, it hopes - with three matches in two states over the weekend.
On Saturday, the team will try to complete a Massachusetts two-step with matches at both Williams and Amherst.
The Quakers start the day bright and early against Williams (4-5). They've decided to forgo an early drive Saturday in favor of getting some rest in Williamstown on Friday night.
The Ephs are currently ranked fifth, four spots ahead of the Red and Blue.
Penn coach Craig Thorpe-Clark said this is a "very tough match," citing Williams' ranking and the two teams' "immediate past history." The Quakers have won the last five meetings, but those victories all came in gritty matches.
Though the Ephs enter Saturday's match with five losses, four of those came at the hands of the College Squash Association's four top-ranked teams: Trinity, Princeton, Harvard and Yale.
Immediately following the Williams match, Penn travels to Amherst for a 5 p.m. showdown with the Lord Jeffs (4-1). They finished last season ranked eleventh, a sport they retained entering this season. Amherst is 0-1 against the Ivies this season, as they were shut out by Yale last Saturday.
"These are pretty big matches," Thorpe-Clark said, "and they're much tougher because they're on the road."
The road trip concludes Sunday with a early-morning match against thirteenth-ranked Bowdoin (4-4). Neither team will have the benefit of home-court advantage as the match - the first between the squads since a 2003 Penn victory - will be played at centrally-located Yale.
The Polar Bears will play five games in three days.
"They'll be a little tired," Thorpe-Clark said. "But it's not that unusual . to play a lot of matches" in a short amount of time.
Only Penn's top 10 players will make the trip, making multiple substitutions impossible.
"We've been talking about these opponents for a while," Thorpe-Clark said. "We need to be on top of our game."
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