Harvard Netmen Smash Yale, 6-3, To Capture Eastern Tennis Title

Harvard's varsity tennis team thwarted an upset bid by Yale yesterday, 6-3, to take the Eastern League championship and complete an undefeated season.

Seniors Clive Kileff and Richie Friedman, Harvard's little three and four men, wrapped up undefeated seasons with impressive straight set victories.

Kileff maintained his three-year mastery over Jay Westcott by blitzing the Yale captain with powerful ground strokes for a 6-2, 6-3 win. Friedman, in what turned out to be the longest singles match of the afternoon, turned back the big game of Eli sophomore Bob McCallum by the deceptively wide margin of 6-1, 6-3.

McCallum, who last year defeated Harvard's Bernie Adelsberg, kept the Crimson lefty off balance with his strong serve and volleys, but Friedman just kept plugging for steady points as he has done all season.

Harvard's other two singles wins came from sophomores Adelsberg and Jose Gonzalez.

Adelsberg, in the number two match, proved too strong even for the stylish strokes of Yale lefty Mike Brooks. Rushing net on punishing forehands to Brooks's backhand, Adelsberg pounded away to a 6-2, 6-4 triumph.

Gonzalez rolled over Eli number five player Bill Keeton, 8-6, 6-1. Putting all 210 pounds into his serve and strong backhand, Gonzalez finished in a rush after losing the first four games. Except for one non-league match at Williams, he has not lost a set since the Southern trip.

Yale's two victories in the singles came in the first and sixth spots. Jack Waltz, the number one ranked collegiate player in New England, bombed Harvard captain Dave Benjamin, 6-0, 6-2. With sharp volleys and extremely aggressive play, the stocky Yalie never allowed Benjamin to groove his strokes.

In the sixth match, Yale's Bob Haar quickly downed Dick Appleby. Appleby, however, redeemed himself by winning the number one doubles match along with teammate Brian Davis. The two Crimson juniors, after starting slowly, edged a strong Yale combo of Brooks and Wescott, 1-6, 7-5, 7-5.

Trying to split his power and win two of the doubles. Yale coach John Skillman put Waltz with McCallum at second doubles against Adelsberg and Gonzalez. Although the move backfired in the first doubles, Yale handed Adelsberg and Gonzalez their first loss in two years of play at Harvard, 3-6, 6-1, 7-5.

Fittingly, seniors Kileff and Benjamin, Harvard's reliable third doubles team, won the deciding match by defeating Haar and Dick Fates, 6-3, 6-1.

In the extra matches for the Big Three title, Davis, Bo Jones, and Dean Bauer won singles matches for Harvard. In the doubles, Harvard's combinations of Dave Hodges-Dinny Adams and Dudley Blodgett-Rick Sterne both won in straight sets.

In the Big Three competition, Harvard downed Yale, 11-4.

Harvard's freshman also completed their season at New Haven yesterday, downing Yale, 7-2.

Coach Jack Barnaby, who now has sole possesion of the tennis as well as the squash honors, admitted that "the boys doue good."