Netmen Fly Past Amherst Despite Aches and Pains

The tennis team ran its regular season record to 7-1 yesterday, beating a surprisingly docile Amherst team, 8-0, at the Palmer Dixon indoor courts.

Captain Bill Washauer led the parade with a come-from-behind victory over Mike Pelletier, Pelletier beat Washauer last year, and it looked as if he would repeat even after Washauer won the second set.

In the third set, in which service breaks were more the rule than the exception, Pelletier was ahead 3-2, 5-4, 6-5 and failed to hold his own serve all three times. At 6-5, Pelletier battled back from love 40 to match point, but lost the game in three straight points.

Washauer took the best-of-nine tiebreaker, 5-0. "We were both playing streaky tennis," Washauer said. "Mike's a strong player, but he just couldn't capitalize on his opportunities today."

In second singles, Joe Cavanagh played sloppily in the first set, but rallied to beat Tom Suher, 2-6, 6-2, 6-0.

"Joe is a little weary of competition," coach Jack Barnaby said. "He went all out when we really needed him at Penn, Columbia and Princeton, but when the team is way ahead, he has a hard time getting up for his matches."

Cavanagh is excellent on defense against a player like Suher, who aims for the sidelines with his ground-strokes and goes for the winner on his second serve. Cavanagh is able to keep up with the heavy hitters and force them into mistakes, but his style is less effective against a steady player like Army's Ray Federici.

Randy Barnett, Bill Brock, Tom Loring and Peter Briggs all registered straight set victories to complete the singles sweep. Playing abbreviated matches in doubles, Barnett and Loring won easily, and Jeff Reich and Bill Ranch secured the shutout with a 10-8 win. The first doubles match was not played because it was time to eat.

"For a team of cripples we didn't do so badly," Barnaby said. "Washauer's knee is still giving him trouble, and Cavanagh's shoulder is acting up again. Barnett is just getting over the flu, but Briggs has got it now and I had to substitute for him in doubles. Fish is still resting his arm, and it's doubtful that he'll be ready for Navy on Saturday. Loring and Brock are the only healthy players left."