Crimson Faces Navy Squash Challenge

The Crimson squash team faces the toughest weekend of its season with consecutive matches against Navy, Princeton and Cornell. Today's match with Navy pits Harvard, the nation's leading squash power, against its chief challenger.

The contest at Navy will be the team's first since exams, but coach Jack Barnaby does not think that the layoff has badly hurt his team. The Crimson had a 5-0 team record before the layoff, and won each of its five victories by identical 9-0 scores.

Though a difficult match like Navy is not the easiest way to begin after the exam break, the Crimson in recent years has amassed a five-game winning streak against the Academy that should give it an advantage.

A Lot of Noise

Navy's home court advantage is definitely a factor," Barnaby said yesterday, "particularly the Navy gallery." He said, "They make an awfully lot of noise, and if the boys can't take it they'll lose."

Barnaby does not anticipate losing. "During exams we went down," he said, "but they have worked hard this week and come back up. I think we're ready and if we don't beat them we don't have any alibis ready."

The Crimson, with Peter Briggs in the number one slot, has strength at every position, not having lost an individual match all season. Harvard, Navy and Penn are now the only three undefeated teams in the East, and the Crimson is generally felt to be a notch above the other two.

Navy has already beaten Princeton, 5-4, and if Harvard gets past Navy without any trouble neither Princeton no Cornell should pose a serious threat.

"If we can beat Navy, we can beat Princeton." Barnably said. He said that playing three matches on succeeding days will not be too tiring, though the five-hour car ride from Annapolis to Princeton might leave his players with "car legs."