Sophomore David Yacobucci helped Penn men's squash stay undefeated with two wins in the three spot weekend.
Credit: Nick BuchtaWith Thanksgiving around the corner, the Penn squash season is heating up.
This past weekend, the men's team won both of its matches, defeating No. 17 Virginia, 9-0, on Saturday and No. 14 Navy, 7-2, on Sunday. The women’s team, on the other hand, split its weekend with a pair of tough matches. After starting the weekend off with a win over No. 13 Virginia, 8-1, the Quakers then fell to No. 5 Stanford, 6-3.
Playing two consecutive matches, mental and physical fatigue could have been factors for the Penn women (3-1) this early in the season. After a hard fought battle against Virginia (2-2), the women had to immediately turn around for another match against Stanford (2-0).
“[The back to back games] were tough,” women’s coach Jack Wyant said. “But we’ve trained really hard all season, and I thought we would have enough gas in the tank. I don’t think we lost the Stanford match from fitness.”
Three players on the women’s team won both of their matches: freshman Julia Buchholz, sophomore Clare Kearns, and junior Reeham Sedky, with this production spanning from the first seed to the nine seed.
“Reeham continues to march forward,” Wyant said of his top-seeded player. “She’s made a lot of changes in her game, and it’s showing.”
These changed have obviously panned out for the star junior, as Sedky has dominated all season long. In her four matches, she has yet to drop a single game.
On the men’s team (4-0), there were many different players who won both of their matches this weekend.
“I think we did a good job coming off of our wins last weekend,” men’s coach Gilly Lane said. “Playing on the road is always tough. I was happy with the way the boys played.”
Off to a 4-0 start in the regular season, the Quakers appear to be in good shape headed into a short break.
“I think this break comes at a great time,” Lane said. “We’ve had three weekends in a row, three matches at the Ivy Scrimmage and four in the regular season so far. I think the break is coming at a huge time.”
The men’s undefeated record so far has come against excellent competition as well. All four of the teams that the Quakers have beaten are ranked in the top 20.
Thus far, the team’s dominant play has been highlighted by freshman Andrew Douglas. Douglas is currently 4-0 on the season in his matches and is ranked No. 153 in the world. This weekend, he battled hard and only dropped one game between his two matches.
Looking ahead, both the men and women seek to continue their training, gearing up for very important matches in two weeks against St. Lawrence and Williams.
“Our biggest match of the season so far will be St. Lawrence,” Lane said.
Moving forward, the Quakers must continue to progress, inching closer every day to the start of Ivy League play.
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