Tennis Team Begins Spring Practice; 60 Men Work Out

Upwards of 60 tennis hopefuls are now competing with weight-lifters and volleyballers for space on the top floor of the Indoor Athletic Building, as varsity coach Jack Barnaby opens spring tennis practice and with it a search for men to fill gaping holes left by the graduation of last year's four top men.

If in the next two weeks the sun stays out long enough to allow plenty of outdoor work the Crimson may very well repeat last season's success, despite the loss of its stars. "We've got plenty to mean about," Barnaby says, "but with a little good luck on the weather we, should have a good season. On paper we're weak, but we've such a spirited, hardworking squad that out of it something's bound to come."

The more outdoor practice the team gets the better it will be. Much more individual improvement will be accomplished on the varsity's excellent Soldiers Field courts than on the makeshift Blockhouse courts. So far the weather has allowed but two afternoons outdoors.

Usually, all the outdoor work the Crimson gets is a few cold, windy weeks in the fall and a few cold, windy weeks in the spring. This lack of seasoning is what worries Barnaby when he thinks of the approaching southern trip that traditionally opens the season. On Monday and Tuesday, April 4 and 5, the Crimson will be a decided underdog against heavily loaded North Carolina. But Barnaby hopes his men will learn enough in these games to beat Navy and Army on Wednesday and Friday of that week.

These matches against the Service academies officially open the team's regular season. Besides all the Ivy League schools, the Crimson card also lists engagements with such squads as BC, BU, Amherst, and Williams--and "none of these teams will be pushovers," Barnaby says. But the toughest teams to beat will be Cornell, Princeton, and Yale, last year's Ivy League powerhouse.

Barnaby plans to build his team around Bud Ager and Ted Bullard, the only holdovers from last year's singles players. Number one man Ager, who performed well in number five last season, picked up plenty of experience when he played in the Prentice Cup matches last summer against an Oxford-Cambridge squad.

Ager's solid baseline game is unlike that of Captain Ted Bullard. Currently the number two man, Bullard plays a beautifully varied game, calling on almost every known shot. His only shortcoming is a lack of steadiness.

The other four singles places will probably go to squashman Charlie Ames, who played in doubles last year; to Jack Frey, number one man on the freshmen two years ago; and to Hilliard Hughes and Howie Swartzman, also of last season's doubles squad.

Ager and Bullard, and Ames and Hughes will combine to form two of Barnaby's three doubles pairs. Competing for spots in the third doubles combination are Jay Robb, basketballer Bob Bramhall, and Ed Bacon.

Corey Wynn's freshman team has also opened spring workouts and, according to Wynn, it looks like a good one. Basketball star Jerry Murphy is currently the number one man.