Princeton Racquetmen Sock It to Crimson, 7-2

LEAGUE MATCH RESULTS

1 singles--T. Lundy (H) def. T. Brightfield, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5-4 tiebreaker)

2 singles--J. Gross (P) def. D. Pompan, 6-1, 6-7 (5-3 TB), 7-5

3 singles--J. Zimmerman (P) def. A. Chaikovsky, 6-3, 6-4

4 singles--L. Shiras (P) def. S. Walker, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4

5 singles--S. Meister (P) def. K. Shaw, 6-4, 7-6 (5-3 TB)

6 singles--B. Horne (H) def. M. Kushma, 6-4, 7-6 (5-4 TB)

1 doubles--J. Lapidus and Shiras (P) def. Lundy and Chaikovsky, 6-4, 7-6 (5-1 TB)

2 doubles--Zimmerman and Brightfield (P) def. Walker and Shaw, 6-4, 7-5

3 doubles--Gross and Meister (P) def. Pompan and G. Kirsch, 7-6 (5-3 TB), 6-3

BIG THREE MATCH RESULTS

7 singles--H. McKinley (P) def. J. Fishwick, 6-4, 6-3

8 singles--B. Fisher (P) def. A. Bunis, 6-4, 6-1

9 singles--J. Low (P) def. D. Arnos, 6-4, 6-1

10 singles--H. Lauer (H) won by default

4 doubles--McKinley and A. Cioth (P) def. Bunis and Horne, 6-3, 6-4

5 doubles--Low and Kushma (P) def. Arnos and Fishwick, 6-3, 6-1

Crimson tennis player Andy Chaikovsky likes to respond to excuse-makers with an old Ukrainian saying his father taught him: "If grandmother had wheels, she'd be trolley car." During Harvard's showdown match with powerhouse Princeton at the Palmer Dixon courts yesterday, there were enough "ifs" and excuses to form a fleet of trolley cars. But unfortunately for the Crimson, most of the close matches got away as the Tigers clinched the Eastern League tennis crown with a 7-2 victory.

Seven of the nine matches either went to three sets or included set-deciding tiebreakers--and Princeton, proving itself worthy of its number-20 national ranking, gutted out victories in five of those seven.

Harvard's only triumphs came at sixth singles, where freshman Bob Horne remained unbeaten on the year with a straight-set win, and first singles, where senior captain Todd Lundy--playing the last major match of his stellar career--pulled his classic match with Tiger co-captain Tom Brightfield out of the fire when he won on the final point of a third-set tiebreaker.

The rest of the matches, though, were a frustrating mix of ifs, ands, and buts, as the visitors swiped four of the six singles matches to set up the kill, and then polished the Crimson off with three straight-set doubles victories.

"We gave it a good shot," Lundy said afterward, "and we could have done it with a couple of key points either way, but they really are very good."

The win moved Princeton to 13-3 overall, 8-0 league, while Harvard dropped to 9-5 overall, 5-2 league.

Princeton third singles man Jim Zimmerman opened the competition by crunching his big lefty serve and complementing it with some adequate groundstrokes to the tune of a 6-3, 6-4 win over Chaikovsky.

Horne evened things up by squeezing past Tiger veteran Mike Kushma in two sets when Kushma netted Horne's serve at four-all in the second-set tiebreaker. The solid frosh kept his rookie slate perfect (6-0) with the win.

Harvard's other super-frosh, second singles man Don Pompan, found the going tougher. Playing some of the best tennis seen at Palmer Dixon this year, Pompan nevertheless took one on the chin when Tiger co-captain came alive and "zoned" late in the third set, brilliantly reeling off five of the last six games to win, 6-1, 6-7, 7-5.

Pompan looked to be on the verge of winning when he broke the massive Tiger's serve at two-all in the third. But Gross suddenly exploded, and he had his power game clicking so well that Pompan could do little else but fight it out to the end. Princeton, suddenly, was in control.

As the second round of singles players took to the courts, then, the visitors held a 2-1 edge, and Harvard virtually needed a sweep of the remaining singles matches to have a chance for victory.

The sweep was not forthcoming. Steve Meister gave the Princetonians their third win when he fought off a pair of set points in the second set of his fifth singles match versus Kevin Shaw, then polished off Shaw with a 5-3 tiebreaker to win, 6-4, 7-6.

The next contest of soap opera proportions came at number four, where Scott Walker, still hobbled by a sprained right ankle, dropped a tearjerker of a match to Princeton frosh Leif Shiras.

Shiras broke Walker's serve on a three-all point in the ninth game of the third set, then cruised home in the 12th game to win, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

And then there was Lundy. Alone on the floor with Princeton's Brightfield, the Crimson captain needed a victory to keep Harvard's chances alive, at least mathematically. Serving erratically but playing his incredibly solid game throughour, Lundy brought home the bacon after laboring back and forth with Brightfield for more than two hours.

After the pain had produced identical 6-4 set victories, the whole match's outcome came down to a single point when the third set ended at six-all and the subsequent tiebreaker went to four a piece.

Lundy served to Brightfield's backhand, then drove the Tiger's return deep to the ad-court and on the tape. Brightfield gamely rifled a backhand return, but Mr. Lundy stroked a crisp forehand volley cross-court for the winner.

The Tigers seemed a sure bet to clinch the match by taking at least one of the doubles matches, and they made good on that bet in dramatic fashion when they concluded three close straight-set victories within the space of a minute or two.

Oficially, the Tigers iced the win at number two, where Brightfield and Zimmerman came back from a 4-1 deficit in the second set to defeat Shaw and a by-then suffering Walker, 4-and-5. At third doubles, Pompan and Greg Kirsch choked away a first-set tiebreaker, 5-3, and went on to lose to Gross and Meister.

And at one, Harvard never really had a chance after Princeton coach Dave Benjamin wheeled out freshman cannon Jay Lapidus, the Tiger ace who had sat out the singles with a swollen ankle. Lundy and Chaikovsky put up a game fight, but Lapidus and Shiras proved more than equal to the task, as they prevailed, 6-4, 7-6.

After the match, the scoreboard told the sad tale--7-5 in the third, 6-4 in the second; 6-4 in the third; 7-6 in the second with a 5-3 tiebreaker; 7-5 in the second; 7-6 in the second; 7-6, 6-3 with a 5-3 breaker.

There were a lot of ifs on that scoreboard--but then, you know, there's this old Ukrainian saying....CrimsonLisa C. HsiaCaptain KATIE DITZLER and the rest of the women's tennis team will conclude their 1978 spring schedule at 2 p.m. this afternoon when they host Dartmouth. "This is the big match for us," coach Peter Felske said yesterday.