Harvard Racquetmen, Still Undefeated, Pound Williams, 8-1; Coach Barnaby Commends Post-Vacation Performance

The Harvard racquetmen won their fourth consecutive match without a loss yesterday by toppling the Williams Ephmen 8 to 1.

The only loss for Harvard was a heartbreaker at number one. Bill P. Kaplan, playing a hard contest against Frank Giammeti won the first two games, but lost the third and the fourth. The final game was tied at 10, before Giammeti won five of the next six, and the match.

But John Havens, playing number two, roared back, kicking off a streak of eight victories. Havens beat Arnie Cogswell 3-0, 15-8, 15-6, and 15-8.

Jeff Weigand, the Crimson captain, won a back and forth match at number three against Mark Reinhardt. After winning the first game 15-5, Weigand dropped the second 15-9, came back to win the third game after falling behind 12-8, and closed the match 3-1.

"I was hitting my short shots too early," Weigand said, "but then I began faking short shots and hitting hard returns. I didn't want to lose because of my own mistakes." Weigand said he felt "woozy" during the match from writing his senior English thesis on the bus to Williams.

Cass Sunstein confronted more severe problems in his match with Dave Hillman. Although he missed some practices because of law school exams, and was wearing a glove to protect a blister, Sunstein nonetheless beat Hillman 3-1.

Three other players won with scores of 3-0: Mark Panarese at number five, Ted Humphreyville at number seven and Ken Erlich at number nine.

Williams beat Navy earlier in the season, a team Harvard defeated 8-1 in their first match of the season. Harvard has also beaten Amherst 9-0 and Army 8-1.

Harvard's next two matches are against Dartmouth at Hanover this Saturday and against Princeton at home on February 7, Dartmouth has already beaten Williams this season, and Princeton is undefeated.

Weigand said he feels "optimistic" about the next two matches. "It's hard to make predictions," he said, "but we're going to be ready. Everybody is really working hard and improving a lot. We looked really strong today." Weigand said he also thinks the team has good morale.

Jack Barnaby, coach of the racquetmen, said he was pleased with the win, even though the team was "not really ready" after the three week vacation. "Even the players who played badly showed a certain toughness and won their matches."