Women Place High in New Englands

Freshman sensation Betsy-Richmond extended her list of Harvard firsts this weekend at Amherst as she became the first Harvard woman to capture the New England Singles Championship. The Crimson finished third in the team competition behind perennial powerhouses Dartmouth and Trinity.

The Crimson tallied 34 points, while Dartmouth, the first-place finisher, and Trinity, number two, recorded 40 and 36 points respectively. Crosstown rival Tufts, who beat Harvard in a team contest just last week, placed fourth with only 22 points.

Richmond, who has already won the Greater Boston and Massachusetts state titles this year, did not lose a set in her quest for the trophy. Losing only six games in the first three rounds, Richmond handily ousted entrants from U.N.H., Clark University, and UConn.

In the quarterfinals, a hard-fought match that made the finals anticlimatic, Richmond squeezed by seventh seed Pam Banholzer of Dartmouth, 7-6, 7-5. Richmond's superior net game and more aggressive style of play made the difference in a match filled with seemingly endless rallies.

"I edged her out by coming to the net on crucial points and putting more pressure on her than she put on me," Richmond said.

Coasting past Deirdre O'Halloran of B.U. in the semis, 6-0, 6-2, Richmond faced Trinity's Muffy Rogers in the title bout. It what she termed an "unexciting match filled with unforced errors" Richmond came from behind after winning the first set, to claim the trophy 6-1, 7-5.

"I'm thrilled," Richmond said after returning from Amherst yesterday. "Or, at least I was. Right now I'm just tried."

Harvard's top doubles team of Katie Ditzler and Meg Meyer also did well in the tournament reaching the semi-finals before succumbing to Podolsky and Loeffler from Dartmouth, 6-4, 6-3. Seeded fifth, Martha Roberts fended off match point in the third round to qualify for the quarterfinals, where second seed Jean Osachuck of Mt. Holyoke bettered her.

Drawing top-seeded and eventual winners Wendell and Awad of Dartmouth for their first round opponents, Sally Roberts and Kristin Mertz went down in defeat. 6-2, 6-4.