Netmen Down Midshipmen

After a grueling seven-day trip to California, during which it dropped four of six matches, the Harvard men's tennis team returned to Cambridge yesterday and vented some of its frustrations on a previously undefeated Navy squad, 7-2.

Number-one player Howard Sands avenged an early season upset by soundly defeating Midshipman Dave Andrews. Singles victories by Warren Grossman, Adam Berin, Rob Loud and Alex Sever completed the rout, which evened the Crimson's season record at 4-4.

"They're probably the best team in the East," Navy Coach Bob Bayliss said of the Crimson after the match.

The victory capped off a difficult week for the netmen. On its spring break excursion to California, the team compiled a disappointing 2-4 record. After taking third place in a team tourney at the University of California at Irvine, the squad lost three straight matches to highly regarded UCLA, USC and the University of San Diego.

One of the highlights of an otherwise frustrating trip was Sands' 6-2, 7-5 victory over Marcel Freeman of UCLA, the nation's top-ranked player. The Crimson ace was 3-3 on the trip.

"I held up well physically, but it's difficult getting yourself match-tough after not playing for a couple of months," Sands said.

Although disappointed with the final scores, Harvard Coach Dave Fish thought his team's caliber of play was high.

"We knew we'd be playing the best teams in the country. It was just a matter of how competitive we'd be," Fish said, nothing that the California teams had already played 20 to 25 matches and the trip marked only the fifth contest of the spring season for Harvard.

"Those guys were like professionals," number-two player Grossman said of the Californians. "But we didn't get blown out, there were a number of close matches."

Despite the results of the trip. Fish believes his team still has a shot at finishing among the top 10 or 20 in the nation.