The Team to Beat

When the U.S. squash team championships open today in San Francisco, Harvard will be the team to beat.

Last year, the Crimson made it to the quarterfinal round of the journey before getting knocked off by Princeton. A Mexican all star team went on to win the event.

But this year, neither of those teams seem to pose much of a threat. The Mexicans have, in fact, already been polished off, the victims of an official decision to banish them for putting all their top players in the team competition, rather than moving some up to the more fierce individuals category.

And, if earlier competition means anything, the Tigers seem to have been tamed Harvard bested them by a resounding 7-2 margin two weekends ago in Princeton's packed Jadwin courts.

Before Princeton, the racquetmen had not solved their problems with team depth which cost them the Ivy title to the Tigers last year Harvard's top seed had usually proved unbeatable, but the lower ranks sometimes met more talented competition. Now, that has been resolved.

"Princeton was the only hurdle for us," Coach Dave Fish said. "Now we're progressing faster than ever, improving the finer points of our game."

Improvement

Looking at Harvard's record, it's hard to see what needs improving. The Crimson racquetmen are undefeated; and in 230 individual games played this year, Harvard has dropped only 20. In a match against MIT, it took the racquetmen only an hour to punish their foes 9-0.

"Winning breeds more winning," Co-Captain John Dinneen explained after the slaughter. That's why the Crimson is ranked number one.

Line up juggling could, however, trip the Crimson up on the way to its championship. Harvard's top three seeds-David Boyum, Kenton Jernigan, and Brad Desaulniers, will compete in the single rounds for individual honors. Their shift leaves Harvard's lower seeds to vie for the team title.

But Princeton, which took its loss to the Crimson extremely hard, has changed its team lineup. Instead of emulating Harvard's decision to enter its top three players in singles competition, the Tigers have only put in their top seed. So Harvard's fourth and fifth men will have to play Princeton's second and third men, and so on down the line of five.

The Crimson, though is not ready to give up. Fish has decided he, too, will make some changes in the lineup. He skipped over his seventh and eight seedy to take a player with the hot hand, freshman David Segal, a racquet man who played at the same club as number two Jernigan. Segal hasn't been dropping many games recently.

But if Princeton does prevail, the Crimson could still triumph in the singles competition. Boyum is ranked number one in the competition. He's still sailing high after winning the prestigious Cowles Cup earlier in the season for which he had to beat teammate Jernigan in the finals to win. Jernigan and Boyum have been switching back and forth in the one and two positions, though Boyum has kept a firm grasp for the past three weeks.

Both Boyum and Jernigan have an eye on the singles championship cup, while Desaulniers, just back from a semester leave, could also be high in the running.

Harvard may be the team to beat, but the individuals on the team are simply unbeatable.