Racquetmen Face Easy Win In Today's Battle With Navy

Crimson squash coach Jack Barnaby smiled as he watched his number four, six and eight lose Thursday on the Hemenway courts. For Barnaby's biggest problem this winter is complacency and overconfidence, and he saw little of that as the Harvard racquetmen battled intramurally to face the highest level of competition they could.

With a radically altered ladder, Harvard will host Navy at 2 p.m. today on the Hemenway courts. The Crimson lineup, no matter what shape it is in, spells indigestion for the Midshipmen.

But Navy will offer Harvard its toughest battle to date. The Midshipmen lost to Penn only 5-4 last winter and return an experienced squad. In its first two matches, Navy crushed Trinity and Amherst by identical 9-0 whitewashes.

Navy's strongest attack is at the bottom rungs. "I think they'll pose their greatest threat in the bottom six positions." Barnaby said yesterday. "They are good and deep, and so are we."

Harvard has the great fortune of having seven players who could be playing number three on any given day. Thursday, Andy Wiegand (five) beat Alan Quasha (four) to advance a notch, sophomore Archie Gwathmey (seven) passed junior Neil Vosters (six), and sophomore Glen Whitman (nine) moved ahead of senior Lowell Pratt (eight).

Pratt has been bothered by a bad back recently, but Barnaby predicted that the Crimson letterman would start today. "Lowell has enough experience and skill to overcome a small handicap at nine," he said.

Barnaby, bedridden with the flu, said yesterday, "I know we'll win today. I am less sure I'll be there to enjoy the victory."

Barnaby's fears that the team's complacency and cockiness will put Navy, unlike MIT, in a position to capitalize on any Crimson mental lapses.

But the great intrasquad competition and the fear of being the goat in an 8-1 Crimson victory should keep Harvard mentally alert in its play. "If Navy takes a point today, it should be through a good solid winning effort on its part," Barnaby said