What doesn't kill M. Squash ...

Life's not getting a whole lot easier for the men's squash team.

Just four days after falling to the dynastic No. 1 Trinity squad, 9-0, the seventh-ranked Quakers travel to Princeton, N.J., tonight to face the Tigers.

And though Penn (6-3, 1-2 Ivy) may not stand much of a chance of upsetting No. 2 Princeton (6-0, 2-0), the team is looking at the match as an opportunity to raise its play for some crucial late-season matchups.

After tonight, the Quakers will have taken on eight of the nation's top 10 players in their last two matches.

"Trinity and Princeton are good for us to challenge ourselves," coach Craig Thorpe-Clark said. "They give us very good preparation against very good teams and very good players. When we come back to some teams that we're very even with, those matches prepare us well."

Princeton has looked dominant all season, winning each of its matches 9-0, including a season-opening victory over No. 4 Cornell - a team that trounced Penn, 8-1, in November. They also have the benefit of being well-rested, having not participated in any matches since a Dec. 7 contest against Bowdoin.

And in fact, recent history shows that it will be difficult for the Quakers to pick up even a single flight against the Tigers. They last picked up a match against Princeton in 2006 when then-senior Jacob Himmelrich won one. Last year, only current senior and co-captain Parker Justi was able to go more than three games against his opponent, though he ultimately fell in five games.

So while a complete victory is likely out of reach, getting the first win against any Princeton player this season would be an accomplishment. And the team fully believes that it is capable of walking away with a result better than the 9-0 beatdown the Tigers have handed all of their opponents thus far this year.

"The squash community is very small; we all have friends on other teams," sophomore Porter Drake said. "I know I went to high school with a couple of the guys on [Princeton] so it would be nice to come away with a couple match victories."

Regardless of the probable outcome, the Red and Blue are looking to take anything they can out of the uphill battle that is sure to take place in Princeton tonight.

"There's probably more potential for an upset against someone like [No. 5] Harvard than there is against Princeton," sophomore James Clark said. "So if we can take that high level of play against someone like Princeton and use it, it would be great."

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