With her team down by eight against Penn State President Graham Spanier and partner Fredina Ingold in last night's intramural co-ed racquetball championship, Melissa DelVecchio was thinking about only one thing.

"I was pretty set on losing at that point," she said.

However, DelVecchio (senior-kinesiology) and her partner Philip LaDuke (senior-kinesiology), both members of Penn State's club racquetball team, rallied back using a 9-1 run to propel them to a win in the second game, 15-14, eventually taking the match last night at Rec Hall.

The victory marks the first time Spanier and Ingold have lost the intramural co-ed racquetball title in more than a decade.

"We were serious underdogs," Spanier said. "But it actually was pretty close in the end. I'm kind of proud we hung in there. ... Not bad for 115 years between both of us."

Spanier and Ingold won the first of three games, 15-10, after falling behind 9-4.

"Once they warmed up a little bit, they started coming after us," LaDuke said.

LaDuke and DelVecchio came back to take the second game, then won the third game 10-6 to give them the match.

"I cut off some balls on serves, rather than letting serves go deep into the service box," LaDuke said about changing his strategy.

Tension was high throughout the match, with opposite ends of each team's cheering section exchanging words with the other. At one point, a member of the LaDuke-DelVecchio cheering section remarked, "Was that one in, ref?" jokingly referring to a fan of the Spanier-Ingold tandem.

A lot of experience was on the side of the Spanier-Ingold duo, which had won nine out of the last 10 intramural racquetball titles. Ingold is a former world champion in racquetball, winning the 1988 American mixed doubles title and 1989 senior world championship.

At three points in the match, Ingold struck the ball while sliding on the court, garnering applause from the crowd watching from the observation deck.

"They were real good," LaDuke said. "And it was kind of unexpected. I thought we were going to lose the second game for sure."

This year marks the first year that club racquetball members are allowed to play in the intramural leagues, so Spanier and Ingold faced top competition throughout the entire tournament.

The tandem played three other pairs from the club team, but Spanier said LaDuke and DelVecchio were the best they've played.

"I think we're actually playing better [than we were a decade ago]. This is great competition," Spanier said, adding, "It would be like letting the Penn State football team play intramural football."

Despite a disappointing loss, Spanier expects him and Ingold to sign up next year to regain the championship.

"I think we'll be back," Spanier said.