Racquetmen Claim National Nine-Man Championship

It was another blockbuster weekend for the Harvard men's squash team, as the racquetmen topped Yale are Princeton to once again assets: themselves as the best team in the country.

The Crimson shut Elis on Saturday at Hemenway Gym and then travelled to Princeton and came away with a hard-fought 6-3 victory.

The triumphs earned Harvard its third straight national nine-man championship as well as undisputed bragging rights in the Ivy League.

Yale was no match for the mighty Crimson, a the Bulldogs were only able to salvage three games in the lopsided 9-0 affair.

Overall, the Crimson just dominated the match. "Everything sent according to form." Harvard coach Dave Fish said. "It wasn't much of a contest right up and down the line."

But Princeton would be a different story.

Although the Tigers had lost two matches this season, the racquetmen still anticipated a tough fight due to the "anything can happen" nature of the rivalry.

"It has a long history behind it." Harvard Co-Captain Peter Dinneen said. "It's almost like Harvard-Yale football."

And the match certainly lived up to expectations, proving to be the toughest of the year for the 10-0 Crimson squad.

Kenton Jernigan, playing at the top of the ladder, had little trouble with Princeton's Fazal Sheikh, and cruised to a 3-1 victory.

David Boyum at number two did not have such an easy time, however. Princeton's Christian Griffith had two match points in the fourth game, but Boyum held on and won in five.

"Griffith played the match of his life," Fish said. "But David held him off like a pro."

At number three, the Crimson's Russ Ball lost a controversial match to Princeton's Luke Evnin, 3-2.

"The match clearly needed a referee," Fish said. "At one point Evnin actually fired the ball at Rusty in the corner. It was not totally decided on skill."

Harvard lost another close one at number four when Princeton's Bill Ullman defeated Dinneen in five games. "He moved me around pretty well," Dinneen said. "He kept hitting reverse corner shot and I didn't really have a response."

Kevin Jernigan and Joe Dowling both won handily at five and six, while at seven, freshman Darius Padole fell to Princeton's Doug Crucksheak, 3-1. However, 3-0 victories for Jack Polsky and David Segal in the bottom spots sealed the Crimson victory.

"This was the last time we'll all play together as a team," Dinneen remarked. "This was a great way to finish up."

The Crimson's top six will travel to West Point this weekend to compete for the national six-man championship and attempt to complete their sweep of the three major college squash titles.

Racqueticomen Win

The Harvard women's squash team handed Dartmouth a 9-0 thrashing Saturday at Hemenway Gym, raising the Crimson's duai match record to 7-0.

More important, the victory leaves the racquetwoman only one step away from the national dual-match championship and the Ivy crown. The Crimson will host Yale on Tuesday with a chance to claim those two honors.

Harvard had to face the Big Green, whom Crimson coach Priscilla Choate claimed "we always have a healthy respect for," without two of their top three players.

Nevertheless, Harvard came away with a solid victory, as only Marty Winnick at number four and number nine Liz Reynolds lost a game. The rest of the racquetwomen scored 3-0 victories, including Co-Captain Mary Hulbert who shut down Julia Lane, the Big Green's top player.

The victory will give the Crimson plenty of momentum to carry it into the climactic match with Yale on Tuesday. Also, with the return of Edge and Boyum to the lineup, Harvard will have some added firepower.

The Bulldogs will-be trying to avenge the 7-0 defeat they suffered at the hands of the Crimson just over two weeks ago at the Howe Cup Tournament, which Harvard took to claim the national team championship.

The racquetwomen will be looking for a repeat. "We beat them at the Howe Cup, so we're pretty confident," junior Kate Dunham said.

Choate stressed the importance of the match by pointing out that the Crimson now has a chance to capture the dual match championship to go along with the national team championship that the racquetwomen claimed at the Howe Cup.

"No Harvard women's squash team has ever done that before," Choate said. "That's what makes this match so important."