Racquetmen All but Win National Title...

Jack Barnaby said that he "doesn't want to count a lot of chickens before they're hatched," but unless a major disaster besets the Harvard squash team in New Haven next Saturday, Barnaby might as well start counting.

His racquetmen, by defeating Penn 7-2 at Hemenway on Saturday, moved within one victory of Barnaby's 20th national and 21st Ivy championship, and only Yale remains between the Crimson and these titles (not to mention an unbeaten record), which is like saying that Jean-Pierre Coopman posed a serious threat to Ali.

Thus, a team that wasn't given much consideration in November finds itself atop the national standings today. But it wasn't as easy as the final score indicates.

The first round (the even-numbered matches) was at first a display forum for the Havens family. While Peter was having little trouble in gaining a 3-0 victory at number four, John, in the second position and the adjacent court, had to withstand a furious comeback by Penn's Glen Koach before winning, 3-2.

Havens Lay Golden Eggs

The Crimson freshman had handily taken the first two games before Koach rallied to tie the match. The decisive game was a seesaw affair, but Havens took six of the final nine points to break a 9-9 deadlock and make the match score read Havens 2, Penn 0.

At numbers six and eight, Mark Panarese and Scott Mead split their matches to give Harvard a 3-1 lead after the first round. Panarese had won the first two games by identical 15-7 margins, but Penn freshman Pat Murray found his touch in time to sweep the final three games and give the Quakers some momentary hope, for while Murray was taking charge in his match, Penn's Chris Rice was leading Mead 2-1 at the break. Then Barnaby entered the picture.

"Scott was playing nervously at first," Barnaby said, "which I pointed out to him at the half. Then he came back and played beautifully," beautifully enough to win the last two games by 15-5 and 15-8 scores to up Harvard's margin to 3-1.

Thus, the Crimson needed but two wins in the final five matches to clinch the victory, but came up with four instead.

Playing in his first varsity match, Ken Ehrlich (#9) got Harvard off to a good start with a four-game triumph against an opponent whom "he couldn't have beaten a year ago by any stretch of the imagination," according to Barnaby.

Meanwhile, Captain Jeff Wiegand (#3) was facing Dave Heiner on one of the center courts. Wiegand and Heiner were high school teammates who have opposed each other since the age of 14, but Wiegand was hardly in a mood for reminiscing. He won the first two games by 15-11, 18-14 scores and the third game wasn't even close.

"Right after Ehrlich's win," Barnaby related, "I walked over to watch Wiegand's match, but the score was already 13-3 in the third game by the time I got there. It's appropriate that Wiegand won the fifth point for us against both Princeton and Penn."

Wiegand's 15-3 victory in the final game was posted on the scoreboard; by following the announcement of Ehrlich's score, it informed a packed Hemenway crowd that a Harvard victory had been clinched.

Cass Sunstein and Ned Bacon then added their contributions. Finishing with what Barnaby termed "a blaze of glory--he's always one thought ahead of his opponent," Sunstein triumphed in four games at number five, while Bacon (#7), according to his coach, "arrived on Saturday. He played superbly, more like a number three player than a number seven, and really smoked his man."

While Bill Kaplan was thrice unsuccessful against Gil Mateer, who only happens to be the best collegiate player at the moment, the final team score of 7-2 provided an accurate reflection of Harvard's dominance.

"This team has exceeded what most people thought was its potential," Barnaby said after the match, "but Yale could be tough. We can't be overconfident, because they'll be ready for us." Well, this might be true, but if someone can afford to start counting chickens, Jack Barnaby is that someone.

Yale hasn't defeated the Crimson in squash within recent memory, and on Saturday, the Elis fell to Princeton, 9-0.