Racquetmen Top Navy, 6-3, To Protect Unbeaten Record

Despite the predictions of a Crimson candidate headline writer, Harvard's varsity squash team faced anything but an "easy victory" Saturday as the Crimson slipped past Navy, 6-3. The match could have gone 8-1 either way as seven of the nine individual contests turned on small breaks.

After four matches, the score was tied, 2-2, and the three matches in progress were each tied at one game apiece. But Peter Briggs (one), Andy Wiegand (three), and Rob Sedgewick (nine) each swept the next two games to clinch the team match.

The strength of the Crimson ladder was tested by the absence of number two Dave Fish. Fish has reinflamed the suffered tendonitis in his elbow, and he is hoping that a long rest between now and February will aid his recovery.

Dan Gordon failed to replace him successfully at number two, losing his touch and beating himself with tins. But five of the seven Harvard players below Gordon advanced a notch and won. In particular, Wiegand, who played at seven last year, won at three, and Neil Vosters, who played eight and nine last season, won at five.

Navy benefitted from the spring weather in Boston. As the Hemenway courts heated up, the ball got hotter, came up off the wall, and destroyed a player's confidence in his finesse. Navy, which excels in long, hard-hitting, endurance matches, had the advantage over Harvard, which emphasizes shot-making.

"I've seen more shots made in one individual Harvard match than the whole team made today," Fish said, commenting on the effects of the heat. "Navy has so much desire and competitiveness that, once you give them a close match, you can't stop them."

Actually, the close match may have benefitted the Crimson. The Midshipmen left the courts confident they could beat Harvard, and Navy will face Penn later in the year at Annapolis.

Harvard also left any of its remaining cockiness on the courts.