Harvard Netmen Defeat Yale, 7-2

Harvard's varsity tennis team subdued stubborn Yale Yesterday, 7-2, to clinch at least a share of the Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis League title. The Crimson also captured the Big Three championship, 12-3, by taking five of the six extra matches.

The score was lopsided, but Harvard had its roughest afternoon of the season, with the exception of the Princeton match.

Right from the start, the Ell netmen showed that they were not going to just roll over and play dead before the undefeated Crimson powerhouse. Yale's number one man, sophomore Jack Waltz, began things by upsetting Chum Steele, 6-1, 0-6, 6-4, Waltz countered Steele's power play with his own aggressive attack and pulled through in a top-notch tennis exhibition.

In the second match, Ell Mike Brooks put the pressure on Dave Benjamin, but finally bowed to Benjamin's accurate placements, 8-6, 7-5. Crimson junior Clive Kileff (three) came through with an impressive throttle job on net-rushing Jay Westcott, 6-3,7-5.

The Captain's Battle

In a battle of the team captains, Yale's Kent Nelson gave Dean Peckham a scare before bowing 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.

Crimson number five man Richie Friedman demonstrated again yesterday that he is fast becoming the team's sure killer. This time the victim was Bob Dunlop, by a 6-2, 6-1 score. In his last four matches, he has lost a total of eight games.

Brian Davis (six) gave Harvard a 5-1 singles margin by outlasting his outgunned opponent, Chris Kinney, 8-10, 6-1, 6-4. Harvard had a lot of trouble yesterday with those long first sets.

In the number one doubles, Stoole and Peckham dropped the first set to Waltz and Brooks, 10-8, and then bombed the Elis in a typical reversal, 6-0, 6-1.

Dick Appleby and Davis, the second combination for Harvard, settled their games to whip Westcott and Nelson, 8-6, 6-0. Benjamin and Kileff (three) also had a slow start. But they had a slow finish as well, bowing to Dunlop and Bryce Appleton in marathon contest, 10-8, 4-6, 6-3.

In the extra matches for the Big Three title, Harvard won three of four singles and both doubles. Appleton nudges Terry Robinson (seven), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, for the Yale point.

Harvard took the rest in straight sets: Appleby bashed Dan McAuslan, 6-0, 6-3; Todd Wilkinson whipped Chip Barry, 6-3, 7-5; and Mike Tarre cut down Dick Fates, 6-1, 10-8.

As for the doubles, the number four Crimson combination of Al Terrell and Dave Hodges best McAuslan and Fates. 6-3, 6-4. Sophomores Dean Better and Dudley Blodgett completed the conquest by edging Barry and Glenn, 14-12.

Harvard coach Jack Barriaby commended the Eli netmen for putting up such a stubborn fight even though they were cutmanned. "They really had us scared in the singles for a while," he said.

For Yale, yesterday's match was the end of the season. Harvard, now 11-0 in regular play still has the vital Penn match coming up next Thursday. The match was originally cancelled because of rain, but Harvard agreed to reschedule it when the league race broke open. The Crimson is undefeated is league play, while Princeton and Penn have each lost once.

The Harvard freshman tennis team duplicated the varsity's performance, defeating Yale 7-2 and losing only the number one singles and number three doubles matches. It was the seventh win of the season for Corey Wynn's netmen.