Netmen Rip Lions in Tiger Warmup

Looking ahead somewhat prematurely to today's EITA title showdown with powerful Princeton, Harvard's tennis team experienced early trouble with improving Columbia yesterday before it stormed back to take the final five matches and a 7-2 victory on the indoor Palmer Dixon courts.

Rain had forced the match onto the Crimson's somewhat harder clay surface inside, where the Lions proceeded to win two of the first three singles contests. Junior Bill Brock, one of three unbeaten Harvard players, had defeated Columbia's Steve Schiff at number five, but at the number one and three spots, both vital this afternoon. Harvard lost in upsets.

The Crimson's top man, junior Bill Washauer, was dumped by Lion sophomore Dong Grunther, who lost in straight sets to Princeton's Bobby Goeltz last week. And at three, Chris Nielsen dropped his match to Columbia's Ace Baumgold, who also lost in straight sets at Princeton.

Elsewhere on the ladder, however, the Crimson experienced little trouble. Sophomore Dave Fish upended Lion Larry Parsont at number two, junior Joe Cavanagh breezed past Lloyd Emanuel at four, and Crimson captain Butch Kawakami defeated John Tilney at six to send Harvard into the doubles matches with a safe 4-2 lead.

At number one, Washauer and Nielsen rebounded from their singles defeats with a straight set triumph over Grunther and Schiff, and Kawakami and sophomore Rick Devereux did the same to Baumgold and Tilney at number three.

Cavanagh and Fish took a little longer at second doubles, emerging with a three-set victory over Parsont and Emanuel.

"The squad wasn't concentrating as much as they had been in Wednesday's match with Pennsylvania," Crimson coach Jack Barnaby said last night.

"I think that they took Columbia a little too lightly, and were paid back with defeats early in the match. Things will be a little different tomorrow, though, since Princeton has been waiting to get us for a year, and our squad knows it," Barnaby added.

Pivotal Matches

The pivotal matches today could well be at third and sixth singles, the only positions on the ladder where there is significant doubt of superiority on either side.

At three, Nielsen will have to contend with Tiger senior Rich Howell, a gutsy, patient player who likes to stay in the backcourt and rally endlessly. Last year, Howell lost to Harvard's Rocky Jarvis at number two in a three-set match that went a long way towards earning the Crimson's 5-4 upset victory, but so far this year, he has been untouchable.