Outlook for Tennis Title Bright With Princeton the Team to Beat

Harvard's tennis team is always good. The question is whether they will be great this season.

The team has a lot of hard-hitters -- the players who tend to be most erratic. If these players can discipline their games on the trip South during spring vacation and in the early parts of the season, the team could beat Princeton and win the Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis title.

Last year Harvard losing only once during the season, tied Princeton and Pennsylvania for the Championship.

Sophomore Bernie Adelsberg is one of these hard-hitters. Adelsberg, who played in the first spot on last year's freshman team, will be vying the Captain Dave Benjamin for the number one singles position. He is subject to spells of errors, but when he is in control of his game it takes an exceptional player to beat him.

Benjamin, who has been plagued with back injuries in the past year, will have to be in good health if Harvard is to do well.

Seniors Clive Kileff and Richie Friedman, and juniors Dick Appleby and Brain Davis will probably fill the next four positions.

Kileff and Friedman, a lefty with a two-handed backhand, are two of the steadier players on the team. Both rely on, consistent ground strokes from the backcourt and retrieving to beat more aggressive opponents.

Appleby and Davis, last year's second doubles team, tend to be erratic. At Princeton they played brilliantly last year, but at other times their play has been unsteady.

Doubles has long been a forte of Harvard's. Last year Dean Pecham and Chum Steele comprised, according to Coach Jack Barnaby '32, one of the best doubles teams in the East. A strong replacement for them will be needed if Princeton's Keith Jennings and Steve Rawis are to be beaten. Harvard won all three doubles matches against Princeton last year.

Adelberg and Benjamin have played doubles together for years on Long Island, and may combine to fill the first spot.

Appleby and Davis will probably play second doubles again. In filling the third positions, Barnaby has the pleasant problem of choosing from among three or four strong teams. Friedman and Senior Todd Wilkinson have played together before. Sophomores Bo Jones, Rick Sterne, Bob Pynoos, Jose Gonzales, and seniors Dinny Adams and Tom Hodges all are potential third doubles players.

The tough matches against Penn and Princeton will be on Harvard's soft, windy courts, which is a definite advantage for the home team.

Penn, which edged Harvard 5-4 last year on its fast, hard courts, graduated three seniors and should not be so formidable this year.

Princeton remains the team to beat. Last year Harvard scored a 5-4 upset, but with Keith Jennings, Ham Magill and several strong sophomores, Princeton is just as good this year and has to be considered the best team in the Ivy League.

On the southern trip the team will be playing Presbyterian, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Clemson and Davidson.

While the players are getting in shape for the first league match at Army on April 9, Barnaby will have a chance to decide who his first doubles team will be.

Barnaby is taking an unprecedented 18 players on the southern trip this spring. He said he usually tried to hold the number down but this year's team is so laden with talent from last year's freshman team that he felt he had to take more than usual.