Racquetmen Smash Penn, Lose Match to Columbia

The Crimson racquetmen returned from their weekend matches at Penn and Columbia with an Ivy League record of 1-1. Penn's Quakers served up the Crimson its first Ivy victory (6-3) on Friday, while Columbia's Lions devoured the Crimson the next day, 7-2.

In singles competition against Penn, the Crimson was smashing, sweeping four out of six matches. Todd Lundy, Dan Waldman, Kevin Shaw, and Jim Levy playing in the second, third, fourth, and fifth postions respectively, put the team in a favorable 4-2 position going into doubles.

Captain Gary Reiner, playing first singles, and teammate Andy Chaikovsky, in the sixth postion, were the only Crimson singles defeats--Reiner suffered a 6-3, 6-2 loss, and Chaikovsky lost in a close match, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Meet Clinched

The Crimson clinched the meet with wins by its second and third doubles teams. Shaw and Lundy won in a three-setter, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, while the third doubles team of Chaikovsky and Reiner tied it up 6-2, 7-6. The first doubles team of Cliff Adler and Dan Waldman suffered the only Crimson defeat in doubles, losing 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.

At Columbia, the racquetmen didn't fare as well, winning only one singles and one doubles match. The match, however, was close throughout, with the Crimson losing four out of seven matches in three set decisons.

Levy flawless

The only undefeated Crimson player this weekend was Levy, who scored a sound 6-2, 6-2 victory over his Columbian opponent in the fifth singles postion. The first doubles team of Adler and Waldman rallied to win in three sets by the scores of 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Dave Fish, assistant tennis coach, said that Columbia had a definite home court advantage. "We usually play on hard-court," Fish said, "and the Columbia team was accustomed to the clay surface."

Coach Barnaby said the change of courts may have been fatal for the Crimson in its match against Columbia. "The change from the very fast courts at Penn to Columbia's slow courts undoubtedly can make a difference."

Junior Dan Waldman said that not only did Columbia's clay courts work to Harvard's disadvantage, but the entire tennis complex, called the Bubble, was "very slippery, made weird noises, and the players didn't have much room."

Fish predicts a difficult match this Friday against Yale, who he says just recently "came into the picture." Last weekend, Yale downed Penn 6-2 and Columbia 7-2. "It will be a difficult match because Yale really packs their house."