Young Racquetmen Face ECAC Fire

With a young brigade of singles players ready to take the courts in Princeton's mystifying Jadwin Gymnasium this weekend, the Harvard tennis team hit the road today bound for New Jersey and the three-day ECAC Fall Tennis Tournament.

It appears host Princeton and the always-tough Yale Elis will once again lead the pack in the 16-team event that will be run in the ninth wonder of the world, Princeton's underground athletic complex. With three sophomores and a freshman filling four of the six Harvard singles spots, the Crimson prospects are, unpredictable at best; but captain Kevin Shaw, the only senior who'll play singles at the ECACs, said he thinks the team can better its 1977 finish of fifth place.

"We could still give people a surprise," Shaw said yesterday. "You just don't know what the competition will do to our level of play. But we can play with any team."

Both Shaw and coach Dave Fish concede that Harvard will not enter this weekend "on an even footing" with the front-running host Tigers. But Fish notes that the ECACs, Harvard's only team match in the fall season, serves more as a feeling-out process than a full-blown competition for the Crimson racquetmen.

"Our team right now has five other people who could be playing in one of the sports," Fish said. And after the fall challenge matches that just finished up Tuesday, the line-up for the weekend reflects the unpredictable status.

Sophomores Don Pompan and Jim Curley will take the A bracket spots with sophomore Bob Horne joining Shaw for the B draw. In the C slots surprise senior Dick Arnos and freshman John Bridgeland piled up challenge victories to earn the singles positions.

A shaky fall and early challenge match losses have left senior Scott Walker off the singles roster, although he'll team with Shaw to play doubles. The big question mark in the line-up surrounds B doubles, where Pompan is now set to team with Sandy Chaikovsky.