Netmen Chances Good as EITA Year Opens

Lions and Tiger and Quakers, oh my!

With apologies to Frank Baum, these are the three teams the Harvard men's tennis team will have to down to capture its fourth Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis Association (EITA) title in the last five years.

It will take more than the Wizard for any of the other Ivy schools, Army or Navy to claim the crown Harvard. Penn, Princeton and Columbia have won the last 17 and 23 of the last 24 championships.

"I'm not sure the league is more talented [than in previous years]," says Harvard Coach Dave Fish, "but it's more equal There is a general overall ability in the league which is very good."

Parity notwithstanding, make no mistake: Harvard (8-1 EITA, 9-4 overall last year) is aiming to snatch the title again this year.

The Crimson foretold a strong league campaign with its performance in California over Spring Break. Playing against several top-20 schools, the netmen who were ranked 20th in the nation in a recent poll won five of their eight matches and finished fifth at the University of California-Irvine tournament.

The 5-3 mark included a 7-2 thrashing of highly regarded Minnesota and a narrow loss to second ranked USC.

"Our spring trip was really indicative of the kind of ability we have," Fish said. "Everyone knows that we're not going to overpower anyone with sheer talent, but we definitely can play with anyone in the country."

Co-Captain Larry Scott echoed this sentiment saying. "It we can compete that well on a national level, we're ready for the Ivy season."

The Crimson's singles line-up is set. All EHA players, Scott and Bill Stanley will play first and second singles, respectively Co-Captain and All- EHA doubles star Dave Beckman will play third, with Peter Palandjian, Arkie Engle, and Darryl Ladden rounding out the order.

Ladden and Palandjian were happy surprises in California where each posted an impressive 6-2 record.

Fish has had trouble determining his doubles pairing, however, "We have a lot of good people," he said, "whom I wouldn't think twice about moving into the line up."

Tenatively, Scott and Engle will play first doubles, Beckman and sophormore David Clark second, and Laddin and Palandjian third.

"We may be set for now," cautions, "but you're always going to keep looking at different line-up possibilities. Any kind of change would be based on how someone is playing at a given moment."

If the Cantabs do win the EITA crown, they'll advance to the 16-team NCAA playoffs, Eight at-large bids are distributed, but it is highly unlikely that an eastern school would receive one.

Before the squad starts thinking about the NCAAS, it's got some stiff competition to overcome.

Defending champ Columbia shapes up as the highest hurdle. The Lions didn't lose anybody to graduation from a squad that had a perfect 9-0 league record (17-1 overall) a year ago.

Columbia is already turning some heads again this year. Its 8-1 record includes twin 9-0 trouncings of EITA foes Army and Coryell.

All of which makes April 12, the date Harvard plays host to the Lions, a very important day.

Columbia handed the Crimson its only league loss last year, when it took a comfortable 7-2 decision in New York City. "Last year we were really flat going into Columbia, because we hadn't had a match for two weeks," Fish says. "The team knows more this year."

In addition, with a contest at the University of North Carolina scheduled for this Saturday, the netmen shouldn't be as cold going into this year's showdown.

The Columbia contest, though won't be the only tough one of the season, or even that weekend, for Harvard Penn comes to town the following day, April 13, for another key match-up.

The Quakers who are 5-4 (1-0 EITA) on the year, also visited the Eureka State this spring and played some of the same teams the Crimson did.

Both squads lost to Chapman College; the Cantabs in a close, 5-4, match that the netmen think they could have won, and the Quakers by a tally of 6-3.

Harvard won a 5-4 squeaker against the University of California Santa Barbara, while Penn fell, 8-1.

Princeton is 6-4 (1-0 EITA) in 1985. The Tigers came in 10th at the Irvine tournament, and also lost to Chapman, 5-3. The netmen will end their campaign on May 8 at Princeton.

While the other EITA foes certainly can't be overlooked, it's unlikely that any will present a serious challenge to the Big Four. Of the six, only Yale (6-3) and Brown (5-4) had winning league records last year.

Three contests, two early in the season and one at the end, should decide the fate of the Harvard men's tennis team. And a three-for-three showing will likely mean the squad's fourth EITA title in five years.

"It's the evenest year at the top that I've seen for many years," Fish says of the EITA A crème de la crème.

The netmen hope to be a little more equal than the Lions and Tigers and Quakers.