Crimson Crushes Cadets; Brog Topples No. 1 Tiger

Squash is hell, or the "Thank-God-theater-warfare-isn't-played-out-on-four-walls" sport. Having dismissed the Navy Midshipmen in short order before Christmas, the Harvard men's squash team took time off from reding period this weekend to wipe out yet another branch of the armed forces, Army, by a score of 9-0.

Although you may be among the single-minded masses devoting yourself only to academics, a squash player's job is never done. Throughout vacation and into reading period, the team has maintained its schedule of weekday practices and weekend tournaments, and have attained some notable successes.

Spencer Brog, Harvard number five, came back from two games down at the Winter Intercollegiates in New York City to top Princeton's number one, Steve Loughran. Harvard's Chip Robie played to the finals of the same tournament, and teammate David Boyum won the thing.

Of course, the Princeton-Harvard showdown is the one they talk about. The two teams have maintained such sustained eminence in college squash that the rest of the collegiate squash world follows their duels like fans. Following his team's 9-0 shellacking, Army coach Paul Assaiante offered the evaluation that, "although Princeton's pretty tough on racket skills, Harvard's probably better." "In other words," Crimson number two Geordie Lemmon paraphrasea the Cadet mentor, "He's telling us, 'Don't get excited and choke.'"

Saturday's match at West Point hardly offered that possibility. Harvard's lopsided win underlined once again that there isn't even handful of teams on any kind of competitive level with the Crimson. Or with Princeton. Crimson top dog Boyum ran through Armando Kellas, and from there on down the line, the Crimson left Army standing on the street corner.

Particularly heartening on the Crimson side was the progress John Dineen has made since spraining his ankle over Christmas. Although he still needs to regain some mobility, the junior has more than compensated with increasingly intelligent play.

Coach Dave Fish sees the team sailing a smooth ship into the Princeton match February 6. Lemmon has moved up to number two ahead of Robie and Mitch Reese, both of whom, nonetheless, Fish says are playing better than they have all year.

"We've spent the whole season looking up-hill at their lineup," the coach said. "For the first time all year now, we can look at them eye-to-eye."

One more tune-up--February 3 against Williams--remains before the big one.