Racquetwomen Edged, Men Win at Princeton

Every other year in early February the Harvard men's squash team leaves for Princeton to determine if had weather will cloud the rest of its season. Every time for the past eight years, the racquetmen have scurried back to Harvard relegated to the second spot in the Ivies and the nation. There were no shadows cast on Saturday's performance, however, as the Crimson tamed the Tigers, 7-2.

Harvard swept the first seven positions in a contest unusually one-sided for this rivalry. Last year, Harvard full to Princeton, 5-4, in Cambridge, and two years before that, the Crimson was on the winning end of another 5-4 score. Each time, the learn that won this match went on to gain the top national ranking.

The match marked the return of sophomore Brad Desaulniers to Harvard squash, after he spent a year developing his game with the pros. Desaulniers, playing second, clinched the match for Harvard, winning the fifth essential point.

With Desaulniers back, joining stars David Boyum and Kenton Jernigan at numbers one and three. Coach Dave Fish and the Harvard team expected to win the top positions. But there were questions about the team's depth, as Fish noted. "We lost to them in depth last year, and knew it could happen again," he said. "Each player knew he had to do his best for the team to win."

For the past several years, Harvard has entered the match with a few individual stars, in opposition to the Tigers skill at the lower spots on the roster. This time Harvard's strength continued all the way to Co-Captain John Dinneen at number seven, and Princeton could win only at eight and nine and the extra unofficial matches.

"I think the victory proves we don't have much of a depth problem," Jernigan said.

Dinneen and the other senior Co-Captain, Geordie Lemmon at number five, blanked their Tiger rivals, giving the Crimson a 2-0 lead and a confidence boost. Soon after that, Boyum and Jernigan upped the Harvard lead to four, and looked as if sophomore Pete Dinneen would cap a Harvard victory after only the first five matches. He led his Tiger counterpart two games to none, only to lose the next three.

The racquetmen left Cambridge Friday with shutouts over Trinity, Army and Navy pointing to the lack of competition for the team through most of the season. "The Navy game was just like all our other matches except Princeton," Jernigan said.

"We used the Navy game as a last minute tune-up," the older Dinneen said adding. "We had Princeton on our minds."

Coach Fish had praise for the entire team and singled out the co-captains, who "continually forced the team to work harder to prepare for Princeton."