Squash Team Whips Amherst in 9-0 Rout

The Harvard sqash team romped over Amherst, 9-0, yesterday and took a major stride toward the intercollegiate team championship.

Harvard hopes to recapture the championship from Navy--who edged past Amherst last Saturday 5-4, in a rough and tumble match that left the Amherst number one player with three teeth knocked out.

Anil Nayar, Harvard's top racquetman, and captain Rick Sterne led the romp with easy 3-0 wins. "We had to win quickly," Sterne explained after the match. "We're catching a plane for Bombay at 7:45 tonight." Nayar's sister is being married, he said.

Larry Terrell and Jose Gonzalez, the other two members of coach Jack Barnaby's ferocious top four, stopped their Amherst opponents, 3-1. Both players faltered--Terrell in his second game and Gonzalez in his third--but their superiority was clear from the start.

"Second Five Pride"

Harvard's second five players, who Barnaby thinks may be the key to the team's success, matched the top four with their shutout performance. Barnaby has been working hard to develop a "second five pride," and against Amherst his players may have found it.

Michel Scheinmann, playing number five for the absent John Whitbeck, stopped his strong Amherst opponent in four games. Bruce Weigand in the sixth slot and Peter Abrams in the ninth also won, 3-1.

Only the matches of Fritz Hobbs and Fernando Gonzalez were cliffhangers. After jumping to a two game lead, Hobbs grew erratic and let the match slip to a 2-2 tie. But he blazed back in the fifth game to win, 15-7. Gonzalez, with the score tied 13-13 in the fifth game, smashed two deep court drives by his opponent, completing the sweep.

Depleted Team

The team will face McGill University in Montreal on Friday with its ranks sorely depleted. Nayar and Sterne will be in India--Abrams will be at the Junior Nationals in Connecticut, and Sterne may be at a scholarship interview. But the next important match will be against Navy in the winter.