Netwomen Battle Back British Invasion 5-3; Oxford-Cambridge Show Stiff Upper Lip

Call it Foreign Cultures Z-16.

The Harvard women's tennis team offered a lesson in American intensity as they beat a combined Oxford-Cambridge University squad 6-2 yesterday at the Palmer-Dixon courts.

But the differences between the two teams went deeper than the choice of the word "bloody" over "damn" or the apparently English style of steady baseline play as opposed to the Crimson's aggressive charging of the net. The lopsided score demonstrates the nations' differing approaches to the sport.

Despite the excitement generated by Wimbledon, in all of England there are only 20 indoor courts--in Boston alone there are over 100. An hour a week is set aside for team practice at Oxford--Harvard teams practice a minimum of 20. And where the Cambridge squad has no coach, the Harvard squad will have both a head coach and an assistant this fall.

"There is no comparison between American and English athletes. The intensity of competition, the money put into sports, everything on a much different scale," Sally Lewis, captain of the visiting squad, said yesterday.

At least in terms of the "Big Win" the American approach consistently prevailed yesterday. A sorely depleted Crimson squad, with only one of the top ten players playing, dominated all aspects of court play.

The premier match pitted Erica Schulman against Briton Joanne Wrighley. Aggressive net play by Schulman proved crucial as she dispatched of Wrighley's more staid baseline style 6-3, 6-1.

The match's highlight took place in the number four slot between Nina Van Dyke and Sarah Butterfield. After dropping the first set 4-6, Van Dyke battled back to take the next two sets and match 6-0, 6-1.

The match proved indicative of what was to follow as the Crimson singles racked up a 4-2 lead.

The doubles competition clinched the match for the Crimson as they captured two of the three confrontations.

"I wonder if we might not get more pleasure out of the sport--because we're basically playing for enjoyment," offered one Cantabrigian after the match.