Powerful Princeton Will Face Netmen Tomorrow

Hotshot Princeton teams have had a little trouble winning in Cambridge this year. The Tiger football team drowned in the mud last fall, and Bill Bradley and company got swamped on the basketball floor at the I.A.B. in February.

But a loss by the Princeton tennis team tomorrow would create the loudest thud of all.

In tennis, the Tigers are a national power. They proved it on April 3 when they won 5-4 over a Miami University team that had won 137--yup, 137--matches in a row. Last year's Princeton team was unbeaten and five of the six lettermen came back--but the sophomores are so good that two of last year's top six have been beaten out of their jobs.

Chances are no one is going to beat Princeton this year. If anyone does, however, it's likely to be Harvard. For the Crimson has the only thing that's going to stop the Tigers: depth.

Strong at the Top

Herb Fitzgibbon, Princeton's top player, is one of the top 20 players in the country, and last fall he blew Harvard's Frank Ripley off the court, 6-0, 6-1. He and Speed Howell form an experienced, powerful first doubles team.

Howell was beaten out of the number two slot earlier this year by Keith Jennings, a sophomore and long one of the best junior players in New England. Jennings is extremely fast and has a strong volley, but his serve is relatively weak. The Crimson's Dave Benjamin should give him a match today.

Steele Could Win

Howell, at number three, is as weak a point as you get on this Princeton team. He's big, strong, and experienced--but erratic. He lost at Miami, 6-1, 6-0, lost a challenge match to Jennings, 6-1, 6-2, and could lose to Harvard's Chum Steele today if Steele is on top of his own on again-off again game.

The Tiger's number four man is an advanced placement sophomore named Ham Magill. Last spring, when Magill was playing at Choate, Clive Kileff, then Harvard's top freshman, lost to him 6-0, 6-0. If they meet again today in the fourth match, as seems likely, Kileff would have to overcome a huge mental block to win. It's not impossible, but unlikely.

Five and six are the key matches for Harvard. When Hugh Lynch played at number three for Princeton last year, Ripley powered him off the courts, 7-5, 6-2. Now Lynch is playing two spots olwer and Bob Inman's game will have to be razor-sharp to beat him tomorrow.

The Crimson's best hope for a point is probably Dean Peckham at number six. The big junior is the hottest player on the team at the moment, and Princeton's Leo Rawis has missed three weeks with a pulled chest muscle. Whether he plays Rawls, Jim Lemons or Warren Daane tomorrow, Peckham has to be favored.

If the teams come out of the singles tied 3-3, the Crimson has a shot at winning the match, Ripley and Inman are as good a number two team as anyone's, and Kileff and Benjamin should be able to take Magill and-Lemons at number three. Steele and Peckham lack the experience of Fitzgibbon and Howell, but they can stand up to all the power the Tiger aces will turn on.

So if Princeton can win four of the six singles matches, the Crimson can probably forget it. But if the doubles can swing the match, the Tiger tennis squad may go the way of all good Princeton teams in Cambridge this year--straight down.