Racquetwomen Dip, Yalies Cruise, 9-0

Women's sports at Harvard usually combine an easy-going competitive spirit with good-natured fun. It's really too bad that other schools don't act that way, like the Ghengis Khan gang from Yale which upended Radcliffe tennis on Saturday 9-0.

If you like slaughters you would have been licking your chops over this one. The women in white did not take one set from the Elis all day. Not one. The closest match of the afternoon was at the number two doubles slot, where Katie Ditzler and Patty Wen lost leads in both sets to go under, 6-4, 6-4.

Other than that the women from New Haven took every match decisively, continuously putting away Radcliffe's too shallow volleys. Sally Roberts got breadsticked, 6-1, 6-1, by Yale's number one singles player Eve Ellis, while at number two Ditzler was felled 6-2, 6-2 by last season's top banana for Yale, Sue Graham.

Captain Denise Thal at the third singles spot managed to win only one game in her 6-1, 6-0 loss to machine-like Karen Feldman, but that was one better than number four Wen, who was whitewashed by Celia Moffie 6-0, 6-0. In the last two singles spots Rita Funaro (6-3, 6-1) and Terry Clarke (6-2, 6-2) were both disposed of easily.

Aside from the Ditzler-Wen doubles match, Yale was in fourth gear for the remaining tilts. Radcliffe's number one duo of Thal and Roberts was topped 6-2, 6-3 by Graham and Moffie, and at number three Funaro and Beth Craig fell soundly by the wayside, 6-1, 6-0.

"They were just too darn good and too darn consistent," coach Corey Wynn said. Hopefully, the racquetwomen will begin their winning ways against Smith on Thursday.