Princeton Varsity Netmen Edge Harvard, 5-4; Crimson's Upset Bid Fails as Season Ends

The Harvard varsity tennis team, hoping to finally prove its full-strength potential, played its best match of the year last Saturday but failed to overcome the Tigers, who pulled out a 5-4 victory to complete an undefeated season and take sole possession of the EITA crown.

The Crimson netmen were hard pressed to outperform the Princeton squad, although they gave the heavily favored Tigers a scare. Harvard dropped four of the six singles matches, but then came back to threaten the Tigers with a possible doubles sweep, as the three Crimson doubles pairs each won the first set of their contests.

Harvard managed to take the second and third doubles matches, but the first duo of captain Ken Lindner and Gardy Rowbothom, known as "The Count" because of his distinguished form, fell to Princeton's Bill Dutton and Bob Fisher.

Dutton and Fisher staged their own comeback after losing the first set, and their 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, victory provided Princeton with the winning margin. Harvard finished the year fourth in EITA standings with a 6-3 record, having suffered crucial losses to Columbia and Penn when the squad was flu-stricken.

"I think we rank second in the league, although the standings read differently," Harvard coach Jack Barnaby said. "I never felt happier about a team--it was just a hard-luck team. The only time we looked bad this year was when we were sick, and against Princeton you could say there was victory in defeat because we played so well."

Despite the loss, Harvard offered formidable competition on Saturday, finishing the season with a strong display of improved skills. Top-seed Lindner took Dean Colson to three sets before succumbing, while Gary Reiner and Hugh Hyde gave impressive performances in their winning efforts.

Reiner, a sophomore veteran playing number three, downed Fisher, 7-6, 6-3, hitting irretrievable passing shots when Fisher came to net. Fisher was previously undefeated in collegiate competition, having never lost a set in the 22 victories of his two-year career.

Hyde's Climb

Hyde played his strongest match ever as he pulled out a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, victory over the sixth man Dave Scamurra and then went on to win in doubles.

"Hugh had a hard time getting going this year, and his Princeton showing climaxes a long upward climb," Barnaby said. "He took two big matches on Saturday and played the best tennis of his career."

In other singles competition Dutton defeated Harvard's number two player, John Ingard, 6-1, 6-3, and John Hayes overpowered Chip Baird, 6-3, 6-2, in the fourth singles match. Freshman John Horn, who won most of his fifth singles contests in straight sets during the year, lost to Eduardo Gentil, 6-2, 6-3.

Ingard and Horn, teaming at second doubles, crushed Colson and Hayes, 6-2, 6-4, while Reiner and Baird pulled out a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 win over Gentil and Sandy McLanahan.

"Reiner and Baird played great doubles all year," Barnaby said, "but I don't want to single people out. The Princeton match was very definitely a team effort." Lindner was chosen most valuable player for the season, and Ingard was elected captain for next year.

In freshman tennis action, coach Corey Wynn's squad dropped a 6-3 match to the Princeton junior varsity to finish the season with a 9-1 record. Captain Dan Waldman from Tarrytown, N.Y., led the team in its efforts, winning both his singles and doubles matches.

Waldman smashed his first singles opponent, 6-2, 6-2, and then paired with Cliff Adler to edge Princeton's first doubles duo, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. Bill Wallace collected Harvard's third win by downing Princeton's fourth man, Jeff Oakes, 6-1, 6-1.

"It was a very good season, and the team showed potential," Wynn said yesterday. Waldman especially earned an outstanding record, winning all his matches on the southern trip and losing only once, when he fell to John Krout of Lawrenceville, 13-11.