Princeton Netmen Win ECACs; Harvard Follows Right Behind

For all intents and purposes, the ECAC men's tennis tournament held over the weekend in Princeton. N.J., could have been a Harvard-Princeton dual meet: the 12 other teams watched the Crimson face the Tigers in each division final with the exception of the "A" doubles.

And like the past five dual meets Princeton edged out Harvard for first, 43-34. Navy, Old Dominion and Yale finished far behind in third, fourth and fifth places, respectively.

Tiger Jay Lapidus, probably the country's best college player and the tournament's number one seed, nudged out Harvard's Don Pompan, seeded second, in the "A" finals, 6-2, 7-6. Both players qualified for the fall NCAA tennis championship.

Though the outcome of the "A's" was predicted. Crimson freshman Mike Terner upset the expected pattern of the "B's" when he edged out top-seeded All-American Leif Shiras from Princeton, 6-4, 6-4, in the semis.

Changing the pace of his serve and playing an attack game of serve and volley, Terner came back from a 4-1 deficit in the second set to gain entrance into the finals. Once there, the native Californian lost to Tiger Steve Meister, who had beaten Harvard junior Bob Horne in the semis.

Ace in the Hole

Meister served 15 aces and 10 unreturnable balls in the 6-3, 6-3 match.

Kevin "the Villain" Skelly, another freshman, further brightened the future for Harvard tennis as he captured first place in the "C" division, beating Tiger and top seed John Lowe in the semis and Lowe's teammate, Flip Ruben, in the finals, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2. Ruben previously had beaten Harvard sophomore Alex Seaver in the first round, 7-5, 6-2.