Underdog Tennis Team Tackles Eli League Leaders

If comparative scores are any indication of how a tennis match will go, the Varsity net squad should be almost hopeless underdogs to Yale when they meet this afternoon at the Soldiers Field courts.

Princeton, which took the measure of the Crimson by a decisive 9 to 0 score early in the season, was itself taken over the bumps last week by the powerful Elis, 6 to 3. While the Varsity sports a season's won-lost record of 2 and 6, having salvaged matches only from Brown and Dartmouth, Yale has an unblemished slate in Ivy League competition.

Crimson Coach Barnaby attributes this dismal situation to uncontrollable conditions rather than to any inherent weakness in his team. Weather, for instance, has held the squad back all year, cancelling three matches and forcing innumerable practices off the courts or onto the tricky surfaces of the Indoor Athletic Building basketball floor.

On top of this, Yale has come up with a team containing some of the ranking amateurs in the East, while only the Crimson number one man, Ted Backe, can lay claim to more than a local reputation.

The Freshmen have a better chance of success against the Bulldog yearlings, having suffered only one defeat in five starts so far this season. One ominous note is the fact that the Deerfield Varsity, which was leading the Crimson 4 to 2 in an incomplete match, suffered a 7 to 2 trouncing at the hands of Yale in a later match.

The Lineups:

Varsity Singles: Backe, Wightman, Tufts (capt.), Pratt, Warren, Swartzman, Willuer, Ames, Briggs, Gresham.

Varsity Doubles: Tufts and Wightman, Backe and Pratt, Coon and Briggs, Willner and Levin, Ames and Warren, Ecker and Ferdinand.

Freshman: Frey, Nicholl, Hughes (capt.) Kaynes, Deane, Preston, Cohodes, and Zinuser.