College Tennis Tourney Begins at Harvard Today

The New England Intercollegiate Tennis Championships begin today at Harvard, and the Crimson hosts should capture the team trophy for the sixth time in the last eight years.

Harvard recently has made it a practice to dominate the singles play, but this year there's some sharp competition. Two sophomores, Yale's Jack Waltz and Dartmouth's Charlie Hoevler, have to be rated as favorites along with Crimson star Chum Steele, who lost in the finals to teammate Frank Ripley last year.

Harvard's number two player, Dave Benjamin, is unseeded, but he could go all the way, especially with the home-court advantage.

In the doubles, Steele and Crimson captain Dean Peckham are top seeded, followed by Waltz and Mike Brooks of Yale, defending champions Ewen and Allen of Williams, and Trinity's Andrews and Cantrell.

Singles matches begin at 9 a.m. today. Two rounds of singles and two rounds of doubles will be played tomorrow, with the semi-finals of both tournaments played on Sunday. Each of the 18 contesting colleges is allowed to enter four singles players and two doubles combinations.

The team trophy is determined by scoring one point for each singles win, two points for a victory in the first round of doubles, and one for each doubles victory thereafter.

Steele, Benjamin, and Clive Kileff should have little trouble winning for Harvard in the early rounds, but Peckham may have his problems. He plays Springfield's Tom Maher in a preliminary round at 9 a.m., and then faces Yale's tough number two player, Mike Brooks. Together with the doubles, Peckham will play four or five matches today.

Steele plays Tom Trafton of Middlebury at 9 a.m. and then faces either Trinity's John Davison or Wesleyan's Jon Clark. Benjamin should whip Eric Coe of M.I.T. at 10 a.m., and Kileff can handle Stonehill's Paul Ferrerica at 11 a.m.

A new Eight Point Trophy will be placed in competition this year since Harvard retired one last year. The trophy goes on a year-by-year basis, with one point given to the tournament winners of the singles and doubles, and a half point to the runner-ups.