Netwomen Advance

The Harvard women's tennis team yesterday advanced all its players into the quarterfinals of the "unofficial" New England Championships being played this weekend at Yale.

The tournament became unofficial Thursday night when Yale Coach Steve Wallinger cast the only vote against making it a championship tournament.

An upset Harvard Coach Don Usher said last night he had been under the impression he was going to New Haven to play a championship tournament. Harvard won the Championship last year.

"I had been told just last week I couldn't bring any 'B' team players because it was a championship tournament," he said. "Then I come here and (tournament director) Midge Beecher says it has to be a unanimous vote of all the coaches for this to be a championship tournament."

"All of us here are playing a tournament and we're not going to come out of it with anything," he added. "I don't know what they're trying to do at Yale, but it upsets me that I could have brought some 'B' players and let them get some tournament experience."

Yale has several 'B' team players in the tournament, Usher added.

Wallinger could not be reached for comment.

All Crimson netwomen advanced easily in the tournament, which features 10 Division I schools and two from Division II. Harvard's top two seeds, Elizabeth Evans and Maria Pe, disposed of their second round opponents quickly. Both received first round byes in the 'A' division, which includes each school's top two players.

In the tournament's big match yesterday, Trinity's Clare Slatter upset top seed Connie Yowell of Yale, 6-1, 6-4. Now Evans, seeded second, is the tournament favorite.

The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played today, with the finals scheduled for tomorrow. Usher believes his team is capable of winning each division.

"We can't win a team championship, so the best we can hope is to have everyone advance to the finals," he said. "We've got some tough matches coming up, but I think we can do it."