Harvard Racquetmen Favored In Weekend Tourney at Navy

Harvard's unbeaten racquetmen, fresh off an impressive win over Yale, 9-0, and a squeaker with Penn, 5-4, go into the National Invitational Squash tourney at Annapolis this weekend as favorites.

The Crimson has number one man Peter Briggs, plagued by stomach troubles and a muscle pull in his last two matches, in the singles division, while Harvard's two through six men will play in the five-man competition.

Briggs is favored to repeat as national champion unless his health troubles seriously hamper his game. The senior racquetman looked good in his 3-0 win over Yale's Graham Ander on Wednesday and said before leaving for Navy yesterday that he felt fine.

Good Bets

Andy Weigand, Glen Whitman, Niel Vosters, Rob Sedgwick and Peter Blasier will compete in the five-man match-ups and are good bets to bring a trophy back to Cambridge. But it will be tough.

The Crimson's biggest challenge will come from Penn. The Quakers jumped to a 4-1 lead over Harvard last Saturday in Philadelphia and only tough play by Harvard's even-numbered men pulled the match out.

But three of the Crimson's five men in this tournament downed their opponents at Penn and there is no reason to suppose that they will not repeat this weekend.

The key match should be Weigand's. He narrowly defeated his Quaker opponent in a long and difficult match last weekend that could have gone the other way.

Blasier, who came from behind at Penn to win his match, will have another important contest for the Crimson. At Penn, Blasier was down by two games, and won three straight to take the match after a hurried sideline conference with coach Jack Barnaby.

Close Matches

Whitman and Sedgwick both lost to their Quaker opponents in close matches Saturday. Penn must win those contests and upset one more Harvard racquetman to deny the Crimson its second consecutive championship.

Navy and Princeton are the only other possible serious challengers to Harvard's domination of the tournament and the Crimson dropped just three matches to both teams during the regular season.

Barnaby is cautiously optimistic about the prospects. "You can never count out a squad like Penn, nor Princeton and Navy. All those teams are very tough--but I think that we are tougher and, if we play the way we are capable of playing, we'll be winners," Barnaby said.