Varsity Wins Two Crowns From Princeton in Tennis

A tradition stretching back two decades broke Saturday as the varsity tennis team defeated Princeton and thus regained two championships which it had not held since 1935, the Big Three and the Eastern Intercollegiate crowns.

For the Eastern league title, the Crimson downed the Tigers, 7 to 2, while in the larger Big Three match the varsity won, 9 to 6.

The top three varsity players were the deciding factors in the contest. Captain Brooks Harris started the team off with a quick 6-1, 6-1 win over Dave Sofield. Harris, in the last match of his varsity career, played his finest tennis to crush the highly-touted second man from Princeton.

A few minutes later, Ham Gravem, at third singles, followed with a swift 6-4, 6-0 victory over Jeff Arnold, one of the country's top junior players, and sixth man Karl Purnell blasted out a 6-1, 6-1 win over Dick Daniels to give the Crimson a 3-0 lead.

Princeton proved to have a much deeper lineup than had been expected, however, and the varsity could manage only one more win at the lower positions, Cal Place winning 7-5, 6-2 at ninth singles.

At first singles, Dale Junta and Jim Farrin played the longest match of the day, Junta winning, 10-12, 6-3, 6-2.

Several minutes before Junta's match ended, a roar went up from court four. At third doubles, Gravem and Connie Fischer had defeated John McKean and Arnold, 6-4, 6-3, to assure the Crimson of the EIL crown.

The bottom two doubles teams split their matches, leaving the varsity with a 7-6 edge. However, Junta and Harris were having trouble with Farrin and Sofield, and it appeared that Harvard might let the Big Three crown slip out of its grasp.

But, as Coach Jack Barnaby lit up his last Chesterfield, Place and Ben Heckscher finished up a 10-8, 7-5 victory over Ralph Stuart and Perry Ruddick, leaving the first doubles' three-set win a definite anti-climax.