Eli Recquetmen Are Coming; Harvard Favored for Ivy Title

With a national championship and a dual-match victory over Princeton under its belt it's hard to believe that anything could stand between the undefeated Harvard men's squash team and a perfect season.

Enter Yale, state left

The Elis challenge the 9-0 Crimson today at Hemenway Gym at 2 p.m., and an upset could be in the works.

Harvard definitely has the upper hand Ranked as the top team in the nation, the Crimson boasts a loaded lineup But the Elis are 10-1 with their only loss coming against Princeton, and they beat a strong Trinity team, 5-4. This is, as Harvard Coach Dave Fish termed it, "their season They are going to be coming up here ready to bust into us They could well come away with an upset, it they put their minds to it."

About Time

Yale Coach Steve Gurney doesn't feel his team is the favorite. Yale lost to Princeton 7-2 while Harvard beat Princeton by the same score The Crimson also beat Trinity 9-0 "Always there's the possibility that you're going to win, but when you're playing Harvard, you have to be realistic about your chances." Gurney explained "We're going to have to get top performance from everyone to win."

The Crimson will be playing with the pressure that any undefeated, highly ranked team has the fear that it might all end before the season is actually over. True, the Crimson has overcome its only visible hurdle--Princeton twice this year, but the Ivy title could still be relinquished with a careless loss to Yale. Instead of a first place Solo Ivy the Crimson could end up in a three-way tie with Princeton and Yale

Thursday against Tufts, the racquetmen didn't play with their usual concentrated enthusiasm, but they pulled off a 9-0 victory nevertheless "Don't talk to us about Tufts," first seed David Boyum said after the Tufts match "Yale will be a really good match. They should be almost as tough as Princeton. They'll really challenge us."

It will be even tougher for racquetman Richard Jackson, who is not only still suffering a slight ankle sprain, but will also be slotted to play in the number three spot left vacant by ex-teammate Brad Desaulniers Jackson will play Yale's High LaBoossiers, a freshman whom Eli Coach Gurney singled out as playing "especially strong, tough squash."

Most of the contest will rest with the top four seeds on both squads Harvard boasts Boyum and national champion Kenton Jernigan at the top of its lineup, with Jackson and Co-Captain Geordie Lemmon filling the three and four spots Boyum will play Yale Captain Victor Wagner, who defeated Boyum at the Intercollegiate tournament last year on his way to winning the Champion A division Jernigan faces Eli Will Carlin, a sophomore who is already well skilled in tough, competitive situations, but probably not more so than Jernigan.

Lemmon, a four-year veteran to the squad, meets his Yale counterpart, senior Scott Schumann, a very competitive and aggressive racquetman "The Harvard players are strong." Gurney said, "but we've done a lot of fitness work, a lot of training and skill work. We should be ready for them."

Harvard will be ready too. "We're not worried." Co-Captain John Dinneen said, "We are all getting ready for Yale."