Racquetmen Capture 61st Straight

For the Harvard men's squash team, it was just another match.

For MIT, it was a chance to achieve a dream--breaking the Crimson's 60-game winning streak.

Harvard left the gym with its 61st straight victory; the Engineers left with nightmares.

Harvard Coach Dave Fish used a collection of varsity and junior varsity players, as the Crimson destroyed MIT, 8-1, in front of 15 spectators at Hemenway Gymnasium.

The squad's 61st straight victory puts it in the record book ahead of University of San Franciso basketball teams, which captured 60's. The longest winning streak ever is 88, held by the 1971-'74 UCLA basketball teams.

Actually, MIT would probably have had a better chance of beating the Bruins or USF than the number-one ranked Crimson squad.

"We're neighbors and we like to play this match," Fish said." Our guys have more experience than they do."

MIT would probably prefer to move out of Harvard's neighborhood.

The competition opened up with freshman Mike Foster, one of five freshman competiting for the Crimson, capturing the first of seven-straight game victories for the Crimson. Foster recorded a 15-0, 15-5, 15-5 triumph over MIT's Steve Yonn.

Frank Hurta followed up Foster's victory with a 15-11, 15-6, 15-5 triumph of his own, while George Polsky whipped Blake Jacobs in straight games.

Playing at number six, Seth Handy captured Harvard's fourth straight victory, recording a 15-4, 15-7, 15-9 win. After MIT's Ohmar Masrur captured a tough 15-6,18-16,15-12 triumph over Jim Masland, James Gilfillan sealed the victory for the Crimson with a four-game victory over MIT's Alex Litowitz.

At mumber one, Jack Colbourne crushed Jan Koehan, 18-14, 15-11, 15-7, while John Masland and Bobby Geenhill (who won by default) recorded shutouts in their victories.

The Crimson's next match will be next year when the squad faces Army on January 9 at West Point, NY. Co-Captain and number-three Jack Polsky, who has been hampered by injuries, is expected to see his first playing time of the year in the Army game.