Racqetmen Stun Tigers, Top National Champs, 6-3

The Harvard squash team crushed the defending national champions from Princeton, 6-3, Saturday at the Hemenway courts. Coach Jack Barnaby said the match was "one of the great Harvard wins of the decade."

Before Saturday's contest, Princeton had won 17 consecutive matches over the past two years. This season the Tigers defeated all their opponents by 9-0 scores and had not even lost a point. Princeton, Barnaby said, was "supposed to waltz through to the national championship."

The Tigers' bid for another national crown suffered its first jolt in the opening match when Bill Kaplan devastated his opponent, 3-1. Kaplan broke the ice by giving Princeton its first loss of the season but the next contest was even more surprising. Playing in the second spot, freshman John Havens beat the Tiger Captain, Arif Sarfraz, by the score of 3-1. Sarfraz was undefeated in the last two years.

Crimson Captain Jeff Weigand, at number three, turned in what Barnaby termed "the best performance of his career" in taking a 3-0 victory from a "fine" Princeton player. Every point was closely contested, but Weigand managed to pull them all out.

At number four, Peter Havens, coming back from an ankle injury, lost in the fifth game. Cass Sunstein, playing in the number five spot, met one of the Tiger's better men and lost by one point.

Crimson sixth man Mark Panarese, a sophomore, defeated his opponent by a 3-1 margin, while Ned Bacon met an excellent player and, despite playing well, succumbed, 3-1.

The Crimson increased their margin of victory by taking the number eight and nine matches decisively, Scott Mead shut out his Princeton opponent, 3-0, and at number nine, Ted Humphreyville took his man, 3-1.

How did the Crimson rise to the Princeton challenge so well, especially just after exams? Barnaby said that the team has been working for the Princeton match since the training began in October. He feels that the team "rose to a peak" and that the new members of the squad in particular came through.

Barnaby said he had "never seen a better team effort" during his coaching career. Luck played no part in the win and "if it helped anyone, it was Princeton since they won two matches by one game," Barnaby said.

Weigand said the Crimson won because of hard work, Barnaby's coaching, and determination. "Our goal from October has been to win the National championship and we knew the first block was Princeton," Weigand said.