Niederhoffer Victor In Squash Tourney, Beats Penn's Best

Harvard's Vic Niederhoffer won the annual Christmas Intercollegiate Squash Championship held at the Harvard Club of New York December 27-29. Niederhoffer, last year's national junior champion and Harvard's number one player, defeated Penn's Maurice Hecksher in the finals. Hecksher had beaten The Crimson's Terry Robinson in the semis, while Niederhoffer had prevailed over teammate John Vinton.

All the Harvard entrants did well. Bill Morris alone was slightly off form, losing to Princeton's number one, Frank Satterthwaite, whom he had dispatched 3-0 last year. Robinson handled Satterthwaite very nicely, though, retrieving easily the straight drops that had fooled Morris. For Robinson, victory over the Princeton man was especially sweet. The two have competed in close competition for six years, and, until this match, Satterthwaite appeared to have gained final superiority.

Coach Jack Barnaby was pleased with John Vinton's effort during his loss to Niederhoffer. Having overcome the dismaying spurts of lackadasical play that had nearly cost him his match with Dartmouth's best, Hop Potter, Vinton controlled the center of the court most of the time and succumbed only to Niederhoffer's extra speed and finesse.

Unfortunately, Niederhoffer was never tested throughout the tournament. His five game early match with Princeton's Svastich indicated only an habitual lack of concentration that often afficts him when he faces players of considerably less ability.

The three men who would have made the tournament interesting--Yale's big three of Ralph Howe, Bobby Hetherington and George West--had other things on their minds, probably the female-dotted ski slopes, during those first few days after Christmas.