Tennis Team Stuns Undefeated Princeton, 5-4

Last November, Princeton tennis coach Dave Benjamin boasted that his team was so strong that "if we formed another team with our number seven to 12 players, they would finish second in the League." Unfortunately for Benjamin, he played his first six players against Harvard Friday at the Palmer Dixon Courts, and the Crimson, pulled out a stunning 5-4 victory over the nationally-ranked Tigers.

Senior Jim Levy led the upset with victories in singles and doubles (paired with Gary Reiner) competition, while Kevin Shaw, Todd Lundy and Danny Waldman all won clutch singles matches.

"It has to be one of the great wins of the decade," coach Jack Barnaby said yesterday. "It was just a super performance and an incredible win."

What makes the win so incredible is the fact that Princeton, a perennial tennis powerhouse, was fielding one of its best teams ever. Ranked no lower than fifteenth in the nation throughout the year, the Tigers had beaten Miami, North Carolina and Texas and had lost a close match to Stanford. "They're one of the absolute top teams in the United States," Barnaby said. "It's like beating Ohio State in football."

The Crimson racquetmen continued their winning ways Saturday by edging Navy, 5-4, as the team raised its league record to 5-1.

Before the Princeton match got under way, no one would count Harvard out, but the team's optimism was cautious. "We have a chance," Barnaby predicted, "but they're undefeated in three years of Ivy League competition, so you've got to favor them until somebody beats them."

Asked whether Princeton could be beaten, number six singles player Andy Chaikovsky nodded affirmatively, but there was a grim look on his face.

In the first few games of the match, the highly-touted Tigers looked as if their reputations were for real. Mike Kushma broke Chaikovsky's serve to open their match and went on to win the first set, 6-4; Lundy fell behind Bill Dutton, 5-1, at number two; and Shaw found himself trading games in a tight first set with Jon Gross at number four.

But quickly, the momentum switched. When he wasn't shouting obscenities, Gross was falling victim to Shaw's blazing serve and tough net play. Taking a pair of tie-breakers, Shaw won, 7-6, 7-6.

Chaikovsky staged a comeback in his match before failing to hold his serve in the last game of the third set to lose, 4-6, 6-3, 5-7. "I played well," Chaikovsky said after the match. "It could have gone either way."

'Careless Errors'

At number two, Lundy broke Dutton's serve twice to force a tie-breaker in the first set. "I was making some careless errors, and I just decided to try to put some pressure on him," Lundy said.

After falling behind 4-2 in the nine-point tie-breaker, Lundy battled back to knot the score at 4-all. On the final point, Lundy lunged for a short backhand by Dutton and lobbed it just over Dutton's racquet for the set. "He hit a good service, and I hit a good return," Lundy commented. "After that, I just got lucky."

When Lundy took the second set and the match, 7-5, the Tigers' roar began to look much more fierce than their bite.

As the second round of singles got under way, a Harvard upset appeared to be more than just a remote possibility. Although Tiger co-captain Bob Fisher was downing Gary Reiner 6-3, 6-2 at number one, Waldman and Levy were giving their Princeton opponents trouble.

At number five, Levy mauled Tiger Ed Gentil in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3. "Jim has been playing great matches all year, so everyone expected it," assistant coach Dave Fish said yesterday. "He just took the guy apart."

The pivotal match came at number three, where Waldman took on cannonball server John Hayes. Waldman edged Hayes out in a first set tie-breaker before dropping the second set, 4-6.

Waldman barely managed to hold his serve in the first game of the final set, but then came on strong to win, 6-4. "It was nice to beat him in a situation where we knew we had to win four singles to have a good chance of winning the match," Waldman commented.

The match, then, boiled down to the doubles competition. If the Crimson could take one of the three doubles, it would be the owner of the biggest Eastern League upset in recent years.

The win came quickly. Playing at number three, seniors Levy and Reiner secured the first victory over Princeton in their college careers with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Hayes and Joe Krakora. Princeton romped in the two remaining doubles matches, but by then it was academic.

"That win was nice," Reiner said yesterday. "We were tired of hearing how great Princeton was." How exactly did Harvard manage to knock off the mighty Tigers? "We're a really together team and we have a lot of confidence in each other," asserted Reiner. "Most of us went out there and played the best we know how."

After the match, the mood among the team was one of enthusiasm and surprise. "It's like something you read in a storybook" Shaw commented a few hours after the victory. Then he paused, and grinning from ear-to-ear, added, "Yeah, but it's real."

******

With visions of the Eastern League crown dancing in their heads (Princeton and Harvard now have one loss each), the racquetmen took on a tough navy team at Framingham Reservoir Racquet Club Saturday night and just squeaked out a 5-4 win.

"We were lucky to beat them coming off Princeton," Fish said yesterday. "Navy was a tough team."

Lundy (6-2, 6-1), Waldman (6-3, 6-4) and Levy (6-2, 6-3) won their matches easily, as the two squads split the singles competition. Navy's Mark Jee downed Reiner in straight sets, and Midshipman Jim Brady edged Chaikovsky, 7-6, 6-4.

The closest singles match came at number four, where Shaw squared off with Mark Hoekstra. After Hoekstra edged him in the first set, 5-7, Shaw rebounded to take the second, 6-4.

The pair matched games in the final set, forcing a tie-breaker which Hoekstra escaped with, 5-4. "He was tough on the crucial points," Shaw commented.

The two squads split the first two doubles matches. At number one, Waldman and Cliff Adler dropped a second-set tie-breaker to lose the match, but Shaw and Lundy crushed Bob Detrich and Steve Merchant at number two, 6-2, 6-2.

"It's been a very exciting season, and this was a colossal weekend," Barnaby concluded.TODD LUNDY smashes a serve during his number two singles victory over Tiger co-captain Bill Dutton.