While most Penn students used last week’s snow days to throw snowballs and to try out their sculpting skills, the men’s squash team had its own reasons for wanting time off.
After wrapping up the regular season with close losses to Harvard and Dartmouth two weeks ago, the Quakers have been regrouping in preparation for the College Squash Association Team Championships this weekend.
“The snow days were a blessing in disguise,” said coach Craig Thorpe-Clark. “Everybody could get some rest and their bodies could repair a little bit.”
This year’s tournament is hosted by newly crowned Ivy champions Yale. Sixty-one teams will compete in eight divisions, with No. 9 Penn (5-7, 1-5 Ivy) ranking the highest in the B Division.
The only other Ivy squad vying for the Hoehn Cup is Brown, a team that Penn bested 6-3 in their sole conference win of the season.
“I think that our team lines up very well against them,” sophomore Trevor McGuinness said.
He felt confident about taking on Brown given Penn’s strong record — the Quakers have handily beaten the Bears every year since 2003.
However, the Penn squad will start the tournament facing a new opponent in St. Lawrence (12-8).
“The key is going to be to try and win the first couple of matches quickly and convincingly so we have plenty in the tank for Sunday,” Thorpe-Clark said.
Assuming their coach’s prediction is correct, the Quakers may then square off against more familiar foes en route to Sunday’s final.
Earlier this season, Penn came out on top over Franklin & Marshall, Navy and Williams.
While this means the Penn team will mostly face opponents they know they can beat, senior captain Mark Froot urged caution.
“If we do let our guard down a little bit, they could sneak out a 5-4 victory pretty easily,” he warned. “Not every match is going to be a walkover.”
The structure of the tournament spares the Quakers an encounter with any of the teams that beat them in their last four matches, since the other five Ivy squads are competing in the A Division.
Although the No. 2 Bulldogs will look to use their home-court advantage to expand on their conference success, Thorpe-Clark doubted Yale could stop powerhouse Trinity from winning the Potter Cup for the 12th-consecutive year.
The Bantams demolished all of their prospective opponents for the weekend in the regular season, conceding only five games in 19 matches.
First in line for stealing the defending champions’ thunder is University of Western Ontario, who beat Penn 5-4 back in November. The Mustangs have momentum behind them after winning their 27th-straight Ontario Universities Athletics Championship last Saturday.
While junior Porter Drake felt the Quakers deserved to be with the big guns in the A Division, his teammate McGuinness saw an opportunity to make up for their season finish.
“We’re all pretty eager to show that our Dartmouth loss was a fluke,” he said. “We want to take this weekend by storm.”
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