Racquetwomen Top Yale, Dartmouth and F&M

An air of victory surrounded Hemenway Gymnasium Sunday afternoon, when the Harvard women's squash team captured a pair of victories, beating Dartmouth, 9-0, and Franklin & Marshall, 8-1.

But it was earlier on Saturday that the Crimson captured its most important win of the weekend over Yale, 8-1. The victory was particularly sweet because it gave Harvard the edge in a fifteen-game rivalry in which each team had been tied with seven wins each.

Now Harvard boasts eight.

The match against Yale proved to be the Crimson's strongest performance of the season. Although the score reflected a decisive win, the close individual game scores slightly blurred the line between victory and defeat--the line that was so hazy when Harvard barely beat Yale, 5-4, at the Howe Cup February 10.

Playing at number two, Tri-Captain Sheila Morrissey fought off Yale's Whitney Stewart to win the first two games, 18-17 and 15-12, but she lost steam and dropped the next two, 15-11 and 15-4.

"I was up two games and then I just fell apart," Morrissey said. "I think it's because I'm reaching a new plateau and I don't think I can beat these people, but I can."

In the fifth game, Morrissey regained her confidence, served her opponent a series of powerful serves and grabbed a 15-8 win.

Cannon Barrage

Sophomore Stephanie Clark swiftly beat Kerry Clayton in the first game. But Clayton nabbed the next two, 17-16 and 15-13.

"At first, I was really pumped," Clark said. "I came out hard because I didn't know what to expect. Then we knew each other's game, so I got scared."

No need for fear, however. Clark dominated the last two games winning 15-5 and 15-9.

Liz Reynolds, Hope Nichols and Mary Greenhill also pocketed wins for the Crimson, each beating their Eli opponents in solid four-game matches. Freshman Brooke Bailey boasted the only shutout victory, defeating Christina Unhoch in only three games, 18-14, 18-16, 15-10.

Daphne Onderdonk and Martha Berkman increased the Harvard winnings to eight, and number-one seed and Tri-Captain Jenny Holleran was under pressure against Berkley Bellknap--who had shut her out at the Howe Cup--to keep the Crimson record unblemished.

Holleran won the first and fourth games, but she was unable to close out Bellknap, dropping the fifth game, 15-11, to the number-one seed at next week's intercollegiate championships.

"I just wish I'd made fewer errors--three fewer, to be exact," Holleran said.

Pumped

"The Harvard team was very well prepared," Yale Coach Dale Walker said. "Their cannon-hard serves were very effective. They gave the [Harvard] players more time to move and dominate the court."

Crimson domination prevailed for the remainder of the weekend. The wins over Dartmouth and Franklin & Marshall on Sunday upped their season record to 7-1--their one loss was to Princeton.

And so, the air in Hemenway Gymnasium smells of hard 'work, determination and the thrill of victory. Three sweet victories. One really sweet victory over Yale.