M. Tennis

The Penn State men's tennis team must be wondering why they even bother. Not even a resurgent Joe Paterno could have helped them yesterday.

Once again the Nittany Lions journeyed up to Cambridge to greet Harvard on its return from its spring trip, only to be soundly thrashed yet again, 9-0, at the Palmer Dixon Courts. The Crimson was playing without the services of its top two players, Roger Berry and Mike Zimmerman, who were both resting with slight injuries sustained during the trip.

Harvard faced some of the strongest teams in the nation during its annual spring jaunt through southern California, finishing with a record of 3-4.

The Crimson won two of four matches to place 11th in the U.C.-Irvine Tournament. It blanked Claremont-Mudd, 9-0, and pulled out a close win over Northwest Louisiana, 5-4. The two losses came at the hands of Nebraska and Utah by identical 6-3 scores.

"I don't think [the trip] was that successful from a win-loss standpoint, and certainly all of our lineup problems have not been solved," junior Robi Soni said. "It showed us how much work we need to do."

Harvard next traveled to Los Angeles where it was shut out by second-ranked UCLA in its luxurious facilities, which were built for the tennis competition in the 1984 Olympic Games. The Crimson rounded out the week by defeating San Diego State, 5-4, and dropping a tough 5-4 match to U.S. International.