Netmen Nuke Army, Destroy Big Red

The Crimson netmen crushed Cornell Friday afternoon, 9-0, and then hummed the same tune against Army the following day to finish out the 1980 Eastern League season in second place.

Harvard ends the season with an 8-1 league record, having lost only to the champion Princeton Tigers, who rounded out yet another undefeated season with a win over Dartmouth.

Besides tying up the loose ends of the squad's second consecutive, but still vastly improved runner-up finish, the weekend was notable for virtually assuring Crimson number one player Don Pompan of a place in this month's NCAA individual tournament.

The fate of number two player Howard Sands, who has a slightly better record than Pompan and is the New England bracket "A" champion, is still undecided, and rests in the hands of the NCAA selection committee. The fact that Sands has played number two all year may hurt his chances of being chosen for tournament play.

Pompan's matches typified the Crimson weekend, as he cruised to victory on both Friday and Saturday, losing only five games over four sets. He trounced Cornell's John Englander 6-1, 6-2, got a good night's rest, and then, in Army coach Paul Assiainte's words, "played errorless tennis" to trounce Scott Peters, 6-0, 6-2.

Over the telephone from West Point, Assiainte praised Pompan and the Crimson squad highly, saying, "Harvard is rapidly moving into contention with Princeton for Eastern domination."

Sands' performance over the weekend bolstered his chances of receiving a tournament bid. The yardling struggled early in both matches, but then eased back into his usual pattern of dominance to eventually take both victories. Friday, he defeated Scott Walker of Cornell, 7-5, 6-3, and the following day, against Army's John Zeljeznjak, lost the first battle, 6-7, but then won the war, 6-4, 6-0.

At number three, Warren Grossman first maintained and then wrapped up his undefeated 1980 league record, whipping Cornell's Peter Castellano 7-5, 6-2, and then defeating cadet John Bell, 7-6, 6-3.

Mike Terner experienced a weekend of extremes in the fourth slot. He had the easiest match of the day Friday, trouncing Mike Mathias 6-0, 6-1, and then made it look difficult on Saturday, narrowly defeating Jeff Todd, 7-6, 6-7, 6-2.

Adam Beren at number five reversed Terner's pattern of victory, sweating through three sets on Friday, but easily defeating Army's Phil Beaver, 6-0, 6-1.

Greg Kirsch performed his patented John Havlicek sixth man imitation again, filling in for Bob Horne Friday to post a solid 6-4, 6-3 win over Keith Usiskin. Saturday, Kirsch rounded out his Harvard singles career by wasting Grant Hayne, 6-2, 6-1. A stellar performer for the Cimson Crimson all season, Kirsch later Saturday afternoon triumphantly ended his career, teaming up with Sands at number one doubles to record an 8-1 pro-set decision over future second lieutenants Todd and Bell.

Last weekend's doubles also witnessed the varsity debut of Alex Sever and Paul Lennon, who joined forces Friday to defeat the Cornell number three duo, Jeff Charloff and Brad Lowenstein, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. Lennon and Horne defeated Army's number three pair, Hayne and Mark Sullivan, 8-4.