Racquetwomen Shell Outclassed Smith, Rebound Sharply From Lost Weekend

The women's tennis team came back home to the friendly and familiar confines of Palmer Dixon yesterday after a prolonged absence and trounced a hapless Smith squad 8-1 in a match in which the outcome was never in question.

Rebounding from weekend losses to Princeton and Penn, the Crimson racquetwomen came out aggressively and overwhelmed the Smith team in the singles competition, winning six matches in straight sets and losing a total of only ten games in the process.

"Everybody was psyched to win today," Martha Roberts said after the match. "We were sick of losing after dropping five matches in a row," she said.

Included in those matches were losses to powerhouses North Carolina, Duke, and Virginia during the spring trip.

Although conceding that Smith had a weak team, coach Peter Felske was satisfied with the team's victory. "We played really well today. We've just had a lot of tough matches recently and it's good to win this one," he said yesterday.

No one was really threatened in the singles competition, as what seemed to be an infinite number of Smith shots hit the net or went wide.

Hit Parade

For the Crimson, freshman Betsy Richmond easily captured the first singles competition, blasting Faith Wilcox 6-1, 6-0, with a steady baseline game. Playing at number two, Roberts downed Katherine Ford 6-0, 6-1, and Meg Meyer continued the hit parade, shutting out her opponent, 6-0, 6-0, to take the number three singles.

Abby Meisleman captured the number four singles in identical 6-1, 6-1, sets and fellow yardling Kristen Mertz used an overpowering serve to take the fifth singles by a wide 6-0, 6-2 margin. In the closest set of the match, Sally Roberts, playing number six, won 6-4, before surging ahead to capture the last set, 6-0.

In the doubles competition, Martha Roberts and Richmond teamed up to take the first doubles in convincing fashion, 6-1, 6-3, while Mertz and Meyer took their second doubles by the identical score.

Smith prevented a shutout when Susie Gifford and Elisa Bronfman stopped Harvard's Wendy Markus and Lisa Doyle 6-0, 6-1, to take the third doubles.

The win raises the women's record to 3-6 for the year. The team will travel to Hanover Monday to face Dartmouth in their next match.

RACQUET NOTES: Sophomore Meg Meyer was named team captain Saturday by her teammates. She fills the position vacated when former captain Katie Ditzler left the team during the spring trip.