Racquetmen Sweep Weekend Matches

The Harvard squash team recorded two victories this weekend, defeating Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H. on Friday, 8-1, and then the U.S. Naval Academy here at Hemenway Gymnasium Saturday afternoon, 7-2.

The Crimson played both mathces without the services of their regular number one player, Mike Desaulniers, who competed in the North American Open in Toronto, Ontario, this weekend.

Although the match score of the Dartmouth contest was lopsided in favor of the Crimson, the top four Harvard racquetmen all had tough matches. John Havens moved up to the number one slot and defeated Pete Renner 3-1. Havens lost his first game 16-18 before sweeping the next three games 15-7, 15-4, 16-15.

Ned Bacon lost 1-3 in the second position. Bacon won his first game 15-11, but then gave up three games by 11-15, 10-15, and 10-15 margins. Captain Mark Panarese swept his match 3-0 but again the scores were close.

In the fourth spot, John Stubbs won a knock-down drag-out affair when he took the deciding fifth game of his match 15-13 for a 3-2 victory. From then on, Harvard won 15 of 16 games as Clancy Nixon, Clark Bain, chuck Elliot and Jeff Secrest each shutout their opponents 3-0. Mitch Reese won his match in the sixth position 3-1.

John Havens commented yesterdat that "Everyone was mentally ready because we knew the matches would be tough. After the long bus ride to Dartmouth the first games were difficult, but everyone wanted to win."

Saturday the Crimson won 7-2 in a match in which four of the contests went the full five games. John Havens, in the top spot, and Clancy Nixon, int he sixth position, won by scores of 3-2, while John Stubbs, in the fourth slot, and Jeff Secrest, the number nine player, lost 2-3.

In all four of the close matches, the Harvard recquetmen won the first two games before losing the next two. Havens and Nixon won the decisive fifth games in their matches by scores of 15-13 and 15-12. Stubbs's final game was a heartbreaking 16-18 loss.

Ned Bacon almost imitated teammates Havens, Stubbs, Nixon, and Secrest, when he defeated Randy Kahn in the first two games of his match and then lost his third game. However, Bacon edged Kahn 16-15 in the fourth game for a 3-1 score in the eighth slot.

Mark Panarese shutout Navy racquetman Jeff Carison 15-10, 15-10 and 15-12, in the third slot. Sixth man, Mitch Reese, also blanked his opponent, Rob Ketter, 3-0. Recording his second 3-0 whitewash in two days was number seven player Clark Basin.

The next match for the Harvard squash team is at Hemenway Gymnasium February 4, against a powerhouse Princeton squad.