UNIVERSITY SHOULD HAVE STRONG 1916 TENNIS TEAM

Although present weather conditions point to an even more backward season than last spring, the University tennis team will not suffer appreciably thereby. Last year, trials for the team began as late as March 30, but this year it is extremely doubtful if the courts will be ready for use much before April 10. This is only five days before the first game of the season, that with the Agawam Hunt Club at Providence, and but a week before the opening game of the southern trip, with the Philadelphia Cricket Club. By practicing daily for the last month and a half at the Longwood indoor courts, all the eligible men of last year's University and Freshman teams have rounded themselves into excellent form, and are in the best of condition. Present indications point to Captain R. N. Williams, 2d. '16, J. S. Pfaffmann '16, and H. G. M. Kelleher '18 as likely to form the nucleus of a very strong team. Williams, twice captain of the University team, and former holder of the national amateur title, will unquestionably be its mainstay.

Pfaffmann, who was ineligible last year, is now playing exceptionally well, and should prove a most valuable asset to the team. Of the 1918 Freshman team, H. G. M. Kelleher '18, who was captain of the fall tennis team, but unable to play in the spring because of difficulties with the Office, is another of the most promising candidates. The loss of W. W. Mansfield '15 by graduation, and L. Curtis '16. who is now in Europe, is more than made good by the eligibility of these last two men. These men, with G. C. Caner '17, A. F. Doty '16, and W. Rand, III. '17, should develop into one of the strongest teams turned out by the University for some time.

The University tennis schedule is practically the same as last year. Leland Stanford's team, which has not been played, since 1914, appears on the schedule again this season. In 1914 the University team lost its match with Leland Stanford. The Californians will bring a formidable team again this year, since Van Johns will be one of its members. Johns is considered one of the best racket men on the Pacific coast, and is ranked with the ten best players in the country.

Last year the team was defeated by Princeton and Cornell, but both of these teams have been materially weakened by the graduation of players.