Yale Edges Netmen in New Englands

What goes up must come down. The Crimson tennis team which had been up in the clouds during its 8-1 shellacking of Yale nine days ago, came back to earth this weekend during the tightly fought 16-team New Englands in Williamstown, Mass., finishing second behind the Elis by a single point, 27-26.

Harvard played well, but dropped several matches that it would have taken were it playing at the peak of its form.

Captain Kevin Shaw and Scott Walker dropped a "B" doubles battle with Dartmouth's Mark Jeffrey and Mark Schneider, a duo they had allowed but one game in a dual meet almost two weeks ago. Walker fell to Brown's Steve Piscuskas in the singles, a player the Crimson's Bob Horne had vanquished in straight sets earlier in the year. Chaikovsky dropped a tight three-set match against Williams' Martin Goldberg in the quarterfinals of the "A" singles.

If only one match had gone the other way, Harvard would have at least tied for the tournament championship.

If Harvard missed the team trophy at least they had the best individual player in the tournament, Don Pompan, who outclassed all of his opponents in straight sets.

In the finals Sunday, Pompan's superior all-round game led him past Goldberg's big serve and volley, 6-4, 6-3. On a slow surface that favored him, the Crimson ace hit hard ground strokes and passing shots to break Goldberg's serve once in each set.

Harvard's other champions outplayed archrival Yale in the "C" doubles final. Bob Horne and Greg Kirsch fell behind by one break right at the gun against Keith Redman and Stu Hudson.

With Harvard 4-5, and facing set point at 3-3, Redman netted an overhead of a deep Horne lob to tie the set 5-5. In a tie-breaker at the end of that set, the Crimson pair fell behind, 3-2, before running off three straight points, the last on a Kirsch put-away of a high Hudson volley. The pair took the second set more easily, 6-4, as Kirsch continued hitting overpowering overheads and repeatedly putting the ball away.

In singles, both Horne and Kirsch fought their way to the semifinals. Horne then succumbed to the Yale skipper, big Brad Dressler, in the "B" semi's, 6-2, 6-3. Kirsch's 11-match unbeaten string came to an end in his semifinal loss to the eventual "C" division winner. Dartmouth's Mark Jeffrey.

Crimson freshman John Bridgeland stumbled against Yale's Alberto Franko in the other "C" semifinal, 6-2, 6-4. Bridgeland played Franko on the Eli's favorite surface--clay, but nonetheless kept the match close. All but a few games went to 3-3 before being decided.

In the "A" doubles semifinal, Pompan and Chaikovsky fought off four match points in the second set against Yale's Cary Leeds and Billy Brady before taking the set 7-6. At 4-4 of the tie-breaker, Pompan pummelled a Leeds serve cross-court which a poaching Brady could only nub with the end of his racket. The Yale tandem came back to capture a one-break third set 6-3. Brady led the way with outstanding reflex volleying from close to the net.

This weekend in Williamstown, Harvard dropped most of the close matches. Wednesday in fair Princeton they need to win them all.