Tiebreaker Puts Racquetmen 3rd

On February 22, the Harvard men's squash team defeated Yale, 6-3, to create a three-way tie between the Crimson, Elis and Princeton for the Ivy and regular-season national championships.

But the National Intercollegiate Squash Racquets Association (NISRA) said that it does not recognize ties, so the Crimson finished in third place under the NISRA tiebreaker procedures.

The NISRA used the total games won in the round-robin matches between Yale, Princeton and Harvard to determine the regular-season national champion.

Yale earned three points for the Harvard match and seven for beating Princeton, 7-2, for a total of 10 points. Princeton had eight points for beating Harvard, 8-1, and two for the Yale match for a total of 10 points. The Crimson gained one point for the Princeton match and six points against Yale for a total of seven points, the NISRA went to a second tiebreaker, which gave Yale the national championship.

The NISRA decision to use the tiebreaker procedure is a poor method to determine the national champion. All three coaches of the teams involved agreed that there should have been a three-way tie.

"I'd like to look at it as if it were the same thing when Lex Luther placed the kryptonite around Superman's neck," sophomore George Polsky said. "This new format hurt us a little, just as the kryponite dented Superman's power. But we know we have a strong inner core."

"One can remember how this kryptonite didn't destroy Superman, but only fueled his fire more to achieve greatness," Polsky continued. "We are all prepared to bounce back next year for a great season. In a nutshell, look out Metropolis."

Is Yale truly the regular-season national champion? They beat Princeton but lost to Harvard. Harvard beat Yale but lost to Princeton. Princeton beat the Crimson but lost to Yale.

It seems like a tie to me, folks.

A good reason why the Elis won the national nine-man post-season tournament was that it was at Yale. With the parity of the top teams in the league, it's reasonable to say that Princeton or Harvard would have won the tournament if the tournament were held at its respective home courts.

But the most successful program at Harvard couldn't have hosted such an important tournament because it lacks enough courts.

Hey, Athletic Department. Wake up and smell the coffee. The squash team deserves a new gymnasium...NOW.

If the NISRA really wants a neutral tournament, then it should hold such a tournament at Dartmouth or Cornell, because neither one of these programs traditionally has been strong enough to win a national championship.

Harvard junior Jon Bernheimer, senior Doug Lifford and freshmen Farokh Pandole and Johnny Kaye will participate in the Men's Intercollegiate Squash Racquets Association tournament this weekend at Dartmouth.

Women's Squash Heads South: Four members of the women's squash team will head to the University of Pennsylvania to play in the Women's Intercollegiate Squash Racquets Association individual tournament this weekend.

Tri-Captains Jenny Holleran and Sheila Morrissey are the only members of the team to be seeded. Holleran will be playing at number five, while Morrissey is eight on the intercollegiate ladder. They are the number-one and two players on the Harvard team.

The number-three and four Crimson players, sophomore Stephanie Clark and junior Hope Nichols, are not seeded, since only the top twenty collegiate players are ranked.

Although Harvard's Diana Edge won the tournament last year to become the intercollegiate champion, Coach Steve Piltch isn't expecting any of the Crimson to take home a first place trophy this year.

"I think they'll all work hard and play well, but I can't say I'm expecting any of them to get [first place]," Piltch said.

The favorite to win the tournament is Princeton's Demer Holleran--sister of Harvard's Holleran--and the Tigers' freshman standout Berkley Belknap. The Tigers are the only team to beat Harvard (7-1) this season.

Tennis Update: The 24th-ranked Harvard women's tennis team will take on eight-ranked Kentucky in the first round of the Intercollegiate Tennis Conference Association in Wisconsin this weekend. During the fall season, Kentucky's players garnered the most match points at the Harvard Invitational individual tournament.

"I wouldn't want to play them in a match in Cambridge this spring," Kentucky Coach John Dinneen said after the Harvard Invitational.

Harvard can improve in the rankings with a good performance in the tournament, which includes about five of the top 20 teams in the country.

Quote of the Week: "A lot of people say to me, 'Hey, I bet that's a lot of fun to play in the SEC.' But I've thought about writing a letter. 'Dear Coach, I'd like in every way possible to get you out of this league. If you want to put my name down for a recommendation, you don't even need to call me.'"--Mississippi women's basketball Coach Van Chancellor, referring to six of the SEC teams being ranked in the top 20.

Runner-up: "He's over here now--he's an Afro-American now, not an African. I'm going to get on him and give him all the grief I give the American kids."--Georgetown men's basketball Coach John Thompson, referring to 7-fit., 3-in. Dikembe Matembe.