Howe Triumphs In Squash Finals

The Crimson did a lot of winning In New Haven this weekend, but on the home ground two Yalies proved themselves the best intercollegiate squash players by a long shot.

In the finals of the National Intercollegiates at Hethenway yesterday, Ralph Howe defeated Bob Hetherington 3-2 in an awesome display of sheer ability by both players. Earlier in the day, Hetherington had upset second-seeded (behind Howe) Jim Zug of Princeton 3-2, and Howe had downed third-seeded Don Mills of Trinity in straight games.

Of the four Crimson entries. Vic Niederhoffer and Doug Walter were ousted in the quarter finals by Zug and Hethington; Paul Sullivan lost his opening match, and Lou Williams fell in the second round.

An elbow-to-elbow audience hunched over the three-walled court to watch the ninth encounter of the two teammates who have given Yale the strougest 1-2 combo in intercollegiate play for the past two years. In eight tries, Heatherington had never beaten Howe, who ranks fourth in the country.

Howe started off the first game with characteristic coolness and effortlessness--and Hetherington stole it from him, 15-8. In the second and third games. Howe turned it on from the wrist, unleashing devastating smashes that gave him eight straight ponnts and a 2-1 lead.

Rarely on volleys did the ball strike more than a few inches above the tin. Hetherington patented a shot that his opponent couldn't recover--a low frontwall drive that hugs the floor on its return--and he took the fourth game, 15-8.

But Howe began to anticipate even that one, and in the end the powerful wrist won out. He took the deciding game 15-11 and won the tournament trophy that he had just missed last year when Steven Vehslage of Princeton beat him in the finals.