Cliffe Tennis in Good Shape; Elis Face Fight to the Finish

"This looks like the first season we'll beat Yale," tennis co-captain Jill Robertson said yesterday.

The team will meet Yale, their toughest opponent, on April 13. If the team can beat Yale, the prospects of a winning season look good.

For the past two years, four or five players have carried the team, veteran Kathy Agoos said yesterday. Now, "the whole varsity is varsity capacity," Robertson said. She said the team has "more depth," with two freshmen on this season's varsity lineup.

Although the team roster has not been set definitely, four of six starters for the varsity team have been chosen: freshmen Denise Thal and Suki Magraw, and co-captains Robertson and Lissa Muscatine.

Agoos, Rita Funaro and Maude Wood will be vying for the two additional spots for the starting lineup.

Over spring vacation, the starting varsity team will fly to Washington and later to Virginia and North Carolina where it will compete with such teams as Duke, Georgetown and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

"Radcliffe athletics have gone to great lengths to make the tennis team a well-funded and consequently, a better team," Muscatine said yesterday.

Two years ago, former coach Jean Evans initiated the Southern tour completely without funding from Radcliffe athletics. This year, Mary G. Paget, Radcliffe assistant to the director of athletics, has managed to secure athletic department funding for the program.

Court Time

In addition, Jack Barnaby, Harvard tennis coach, has helped immeasurably in giving Harvard court time to Radcliffe. "Before, the Radcliffe tennis team could show up for a court and be turned away by Harvard players," Robertson said. "Now we have a set time and set courts."

The greater attention paid to the team has enabled the JV to increase its matches from two to five this season, Robertson said.

The team has been practicing six days a week since early fall. Barnaby has been offering the team useful pointers, Robertson said, in addition to regular coaching by Betty Lincoln.