Racquetmen Tally Two Wins

The beat goes on for the Harvard Men's squash team, which continued its road winning streak this weekend.

The Crimson downed the Midshipmen, 8-1, at Navy on Saturday and shut out the Diplomats at Franklin and Marshall, 9-0, on Sunday afternoon. The victories lifted the Crimson to a perfect 10-0 overall record (4-0 Ivy) with only home games remaining to play in the regular season.

Avenging his defeat two years ago to Midshipman opponent Christian Peterson, Farokh Pandole caroused to an easy 3-0 victory. Pandole, who yielded a two-game lead to Princeton opponent Nick Guethe last weekend, set the courts on fire this time with a fast-paced game and blatantly superior control of the T.

"Rumor has it that over the past two years, Farokh has hired three private I's to study the daily and nocturnal habits of the Midshipmen," senior George Polsky said.

"[Farokh] was on fire, great," Assistant Coach Doug Lifford added.

First-seed Jeremy Fraiberg, on the other hand, lost for the first time this season to Midshipman Sunil Desai, 3-2. Desai, older brother of Crimson racquetwoman Vanya Desai, took advantage of the toasty warm courts to blast the ball past Fraiberg.

Junior tri-captain Jonny Kaye moved up to second seed, recapturing his winning ways with a new double boast shot to trounce on both his Midshipman and Diplomat opponent in three games each. The new strategic shot in which the ball hits the side wall, then the corner front wall, and then drops, could be what Kaye needs to defeat his Yale opponent in the match for the national championship next Wednesday.

While the weekend's victories are not surprising--Harvard has not lost to Navy since the mid-sixties and it has never lost to Franklin and Marshall--they are a slight drop from last year. In its 1989-90 season, the Crimson shut out both teams at Hemenway Gym. Two years ago however, the Crimson almost fell to the Diplomats in Philadelphia in a 5-4 nailbiter.

THE NOTEBOOK--Freshmen Adrien Ezra and Mike Foster, sophomore Neal Tew, and seniors George Polsky and Jon Masland are all undefeated this season. Sophomores Marty Clark, juniors Pandole, Kaye and Fraiberg have each lost only one match.

Clark has been making a steady comeback after an injury last year. He has jumped from fifth seed in the 1989-90 season to play between first and third seed this season. Sophomore Neal Tew, Clark's roommate, has also been a climber this season after a back injury last year. He is now regularly playing between seven and ninth seed--up from 10th to 13th seeds last year.

Pandole has fully recovered from a serious illness which put him in University Health Services with a high fever for three weeks earlier this season. He is now back to being a strong fourth-seed player for the Crimson.

The Crimson plays Dartmouth at home on Wednesday and then sends its top players to New Haven this weekend for the U.S.S.R.A. Team Championships.

After all the travelling and winning, the Crimson will have only two days to rest up before the grand finale Yale match at Hemenway Gym on February 20.