The Penn matchup is useful, Ben-Shachar said, "to get rid of nerves and tension" that have been mounting in anticipation of the big match.

And although the team takes every match one at a time and does not want to speculate about the outcome of the Princeton championship match, recent individual triumphs bode well.

In the Cowles Tournament, Ben-Shachar beat Princeton's number two player in a tough quarterfinal matchup. And even more significantly, junior Andy Walter, who lost to teammate Kirsch in the quarterfinals of the Cowles Tournament, won his first round match against a higher seeded member of the Princeton squad.

Despite these accomplishments and Harvard's undefeated regular season, any athlete will agree that victories are unpredictable, no matter how good a team is.

But the hard training schedule, a home crowd advantage and the sacrifices that Harvard has repeatedly made to further its goals, should help the Crimson peak for the match of its season.

As Ezra summarizes Coach Bill Doyle's strategy, it becomes apparent that Harvard is setting up a modest mentality for the Princeton dual meet.

"The coach's phrase would be confidence with the benefit of intellect,'" Ezra said. "That means to be calm on the outside, confident on the inside, and to go out and play hard."

Women at First Cowles

While the men's squash team dominated the 50th Cowles individual tournament, the women's team participated in the inaugural year of the Cowles Tournament for women. In its first year, this female counterpart of the tournament attracted mainly Harvard players and alumni.

Despite the lack of regional or collegiate diversity, Harvard showed a strong performance with sophomore Ivy Pochoda, who is a Crimson editor, losing in the finals and senior co-caption Blair Clark losing in the quarterfinals.

Both Harvard players lost to eventual winner Margot Green, a professional player from New York and a Franklin and Marshall graduation in 1994.

In the Harvard squash tradition, this year's women's squad boasts an undefeated season where their latest victory (9-0) two nights ago versus Williams adds another step to their climb for a national title.

Coming off a National Championship undefeated season last year and with a flawless record this year, the women's squash team can expect nothing less than the best.

This weekend will probably prove to be the toughest competition this stellar squad faces this season as it takes on Penn and Princeton on its home courts. Unlike the men who are vying to beat the Tigers, the women's team is anticipating a difficult match against the Quakers, which also has an undefeated season so far.

Perhaps one of the biggest foes of the Crimson right now is the recently completed exam period.

"We're training hard out of exams and working to get back into it," Clark said.