Penn Takes Squash Tournament But Harvard Showing Strong

Penn established itself as the number one squash team in the nation at the University Club of New York squash tournament held during the Christmas recess.

The Quakers' Palmer Page and Elliot Berry finished one and two in the individual championship, but Harvard coach Jack Barnaby was extremely pleased with the Crimson's showing. Each of Harvard's five representatives advanced through at least two rounds, and sophomore Peter Briggs lost in the semifinals to Page, 3-1.

"We gained a lot of experience," Barnaby said. "Penn held up the predictions that they have the players to win, but our boys saw what they have to do to win and I think they are on their way to learning."

Sophomore Promise

Barnaby had special praise for Briggs' performance. "He did quite well for a sophomore," he said. "He looked like a good number one player, and that's very good for a sophomore. But of course he also learned he's going to have to do a lot better."

Briggs, number two on the Harvard team, beat Penn's number four man Anil Kapur and William's number one man, seeded fourth in the tournament, to advance to the semifinals. Against Page, Briggs won the first game but dropped the next two games in fairly close contests. In the final game, Page used his superior experience to whip Briggs easily.

Each of the Crimson's players were eliminated by one of the top five seeded in the tournament. Neil Vosters, Harvard's number nine, lost to Page in round three. The Crimson's top entry, Dave Fish, lost to William's number one man in round three, and sophomore Dan Gordon, six on the Harvard ladder, dropped his match with Williams' Ty Griffin, seeded fifth in the tournament.

Alain Quasha, who plays at five on the Harvard ladder, was eliminated by Princeton's top player, Sandy McAdoo, who was the tournament's third seed.

No team scores were kept, but Penn clearly had the strongest top five at the tournament. Williams and Harvard proved to be the strongest contenders of the Quakers at the top of the ladder.

The Crimson played without Ed Atwood and Jaime Gonzalez, Harvard's number three and four respectively.