Tennis Team Shuts Out M.I.T.--Again

The other tennis players had long since finished. This was the sixth and final singles match. The lead swung back and forth as Harvard's Steve Devereaux won the first set 9-7 and M.I.T.'s Tom Stewart took the second, 8-6. In the final set. Devereaux chopped his way to a narrow lead, held on to it, and won the match, 6-3.

It was a dynamic finish, and the Crimson netmen could sigh with relief -- M.I.T. was not going to win its first point against Harvard in three years. The final score would be 9-0, once again.

The rest was easy. In no other match did M.I.T. win a set, and number-one man Bernie Adelsberg was the only Crimson player besides Devereaux to be extended. Adelsberg, last year's New England Intercollegiate Champion, was erratic as he overpowered M.I.T.'s Rich Thurber 7-5, 6-3. He then teamed with captain Brian Davis to win the second doubles, 8-6, 6-3 over M.I.T.'s Cart Weissgerber and Steve Deneroff, Davis had routed Weissgerber earlier in the number two singles, 6-1, 6-2.

The day's outstanding performances, however, came from Harvard's two California sophomores, John Levin and Rocky Jarvis. These two hard hitters played the best matches on the Southern trip.

Levin (number three) chagrined Dener-off, 6-0, 6-0. Jarvis (four) polished off M.I.T.'s John St. Peter, 6-2, 6-3. At number one doubles, they blistered the Engineer combination of Thurber and Bob Metcalfe, 6-0, 6-1.

Dick Appleby, dropped by Coach Jack Barnaby from number three to number five to clear the way for Levin and Jarvis, used his strong base-line attack to defeat Metcalfe, 6-3, 6-3.

In the number three doubles, Appleby teamed with Jose Gonzalez to defeat St. Peter and Smith, 6-1, 6-4. Gonzalez, a tennis and squash powerhouse, had missed the Southern trip because of an ankle injury sustained on a skiing jaunt. And he still can't maneuver his 6-2, 210-pound frame well enough to play singles.

Harvard continues its home stand Saturday, when it tackles a moderately strong Amherst squad.