Netwomen Blank Wellesley, 9-0

The Wellesley tennis team must have felt a little like the British in the Charge of the Light Brigade yesterday at Soldiers Field against the Harvard women's squad; as Wellesley charged in from West of Cambridge the Crimson women volleyed (and served and hit ground strokes) and thundered at them from all sides, beating them 9-0 and leaving them shell-shocked and in need of many a Florence Nightingale at the end of the match.

The Harvard singles players lost but one set in an early blitzkrieg that left Wellesley reeling, trailing 6-0, and without a hope of catching up. Freshman star Betsy Richmond at number one, the New England Women's Intercollegiate singles champion, captured all but three games in rushing to an easy straight set victory over Katherine Griner.

Playing up at number two due to the absence of Martha Roberts, sophomore Meg Meyer improved on Richmond's performance in dropping but two games in her speedy two set win. Freshmen at three, four, and five, Abbey Meiselman, Kristen Mertz and Diedre Wilde also triumphed with consummate ease, dropping only four, two, and four games respectively.

The only singles player who had any difficulty winning at all, Sally Roberts at number six, woke up after a sluggish start which saw her drop the first set of her match to Kathy Carey, and collected all but two of the remaining games.

All three doubles tandems left Wellesley bullet-ridden instraight sets. The number one pair, featuring co-captain Katie Dietzler and Beth Craig defeated sisters Julie and Linda Peterson 6-3, 6-3. Earlier this year Dietzler, who has held on to her top doubles spot despite the influx of top singles playing freshmen, teamed with Meyer and made it to the semi-finals of the New England Championships before bowing out.

Coach Peter Bellsky felt afterwards that the easy victory affirmed the fact that the current Harvard women's team is "the strongest we've ever had. With Betsy at number one, we're well on our way to establishing ourselves in the Ivy League," he added.