Nationals are a week away, and we ended our regular season on Saturday with a surprisingly comfortable 9-0 victory over University of Pennsylvania. They had nearly beaten Harvard University the week before (like us, they lost 4-5), so we were expecting it to be a real battle.

However, everyone on the team simply outplayed their opponents. Yohay, our No. 9, had the toughest match; despite losing the first game he fought his way back to win 3-1. It seems that his tough 2-3 losses from last year are history. He is well on his way to be this year’s most improved player on the team.

After the Penn match, it was time to celebrate sophomore Will Newnham’s 21st birthday. Back in England, where Newnham is from, the 21st wouldn’t be as big of a deal as here in the U.S. But because he goes to school here we wanted him to have a birthday just as any local 21-year-old would. So we took the privilege to relax and celebrate for the last time before nationals.

After talking to most of the guys on the team the day after, everyone seems to be doing well and have their minds set for next weekend. There’s not a lot you can do in a week, but small things could make the difference this year.

First round opponent will be 3rd ranked Yale University, and we will be looking to turn around our 4-5 loss to them in January.