Quakers Crushed By Netmen, 8-1

The Harvard men's tennis team ostensibly had to face two challenges yesterday--Penn and the wind.

Several members of the team commented that the wind did bother them a little, but that didn't prevent the Crimson from blowing the Quakers away in convincing fashion, 8-1, at Beren Tennis Center in its first EITA match of the season.

Harvard wrapped up its first outdoor contest early, winning five of the six singles matches and all three doubles matches.

The expected showdown between Harvard freshman Mike Zimmerman and the more experienced senior from Penn, Mitch Speigel, never materialized, with Zimmerman relying on strong service returns and beautiful passing shots to prevail in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.

The first few games gave an indication of what was to come, as Zimmerman held his serve at love. Speigel got off to a rather inauspicious start, double-faulting on the first point of the next game. He won only one point in that service game, as Zimmerman broke to take a 2-0 lead.

After Zimmerman won the next game, Speigel made somewhat of a comeback--winning the next three to make the score 3-3. Zimmerman held his serve in the next game and went on to win the last eight points, sealing the set when Speigel sent a return long.

Zimmerman jumped out to a quick 5-2 lead in the second set, but Speigel again took the next two games to narrow the margin. Zimmerman fell behind in the next game 0-30 but came back when Speigel netted a return and ended the match with an emphatic smash.

Junior Roger Berry had a tougher time atnumber-two singles dropping a set before finallyprevailing over Crimson nemesis Dan Levine, 6-2,3-6, 6-3. Last season Levine defeated Berry andCo-Captain Mark Leschly, as well as last year'sCo-Captain Arkie Engle. But this year Berrydictated the play of the match, winning the lastgame at love when Levine netted a backhand return.

"In the first set my serve was on, and I wasspinning everything in," Berry said. "I got awayfrom my game plan in the second set and startedhitting the ball really hard. Of course when it'swindy out, the ball's going to sail."

Zimmerman and Berry also prevailed over Spiegeland Levine in first doubles action, 6-3, 6-1.

Freshmen Mike Shyjan, Derek Brown and AlbertChang all pulled out straight-set victories.Sophomore Jonathan Cardi, who is just recoveringfrom a painful shoulder injury that put him out ofaction for ten months, dropped a tough two-setter,6-4, 6-4.

"The fact that we were able to play so wellagainst such a strong team demonstrates that notonly do we have a lot of depth, but also how muchpotential we have to do well this season," Brownsaid. "Winning as easily as we did against Penn isa great way to start the season."

The Crimson faces what should be a much toughertest today when it hosts Columbia at 1 p.m. atBeren Tennis Center