Courtmen Blitzed In Southern Trip But Still Improve

As was expected. Harvard's rebuilding tennis team fared poorly during its Southern trip, losing four of five matches, but coach Jack Barnaby feels that the Crimson jelled well enough to establish itself as a "formidable spoiler" in the EITA race this spring, which begins with a home contest this weekend against Navy.

"Even though we were clobbered pretty badly down here, I think we came out of it with a decent team," Barnaby says. "It's not nearly as strong as last year's squad that tied Princeton for the title, but if we're lucky, and the morale holds up as well as it has so far, we could win a lot of matches."

Harvard went South with only two tested veterans, juniors Bill Washauer and Chris Nielsen, on its first unit, and from the beginning it ran into trouble. After winning four of the six singles matches against the Country Club of Virginia, the Crimson dropped all three doubles contests and lost 5-4.

Lack Experience

"We didn't have the necessary experience to overcome them there," Barnaby said. "Their doubles teams had been playing together for quite a while, and they performed beautifully against us."

A day later, however, Harvard managed a 5-4 triumph over South Carolina, but after the rematch was rained out, the Crimson was steamrolled, 9-0, by both Georgia and North Carolina.

Both the Bulldogs and the Tarheels, however, are quality teams, ranking among the better squads in the nation. Miami, roughly comparable in talent to both of them, destroyed Princeton 9-0 last week, and the Tigers are expected to capture the EITA championship easily this spring.

"In addition, those squads are well into their seasons now," Barnaby says. "They were pretty sure of what they had. We used the trip as pretty much of an experimental thing."

Homeward Bound

On the road back North, Harvard dropped a fourth match to Virginia, 6-3 but was able to win at both first and second singles, and second doubles, providing a measure of optimism concerning the strength of the top of the Crimson ladder.

Washauer and Neilsen, the top two singles performers down South, will occupy those spots in Wednesday's opener at M. I. T., and sophomore Dave Fish appears to have the edge at the third position. Junior Joe Cavanagh will play at four, captain Butch Kawakami at five, and junior Bill Brock at six.

Washauer and Neilsen will form the first doubles team, with Cavanagh and Fish at number two. The third tandem is uncertain at this point, but sophomore Ed Devereux should be one of the top contenders.