Netmen Roll Over Owls; Prepare for Spring Trip

The Harvard men's tennis team defeated Temple, 9-0, yesterday afternoon at the Palmer Dixon courts.

The win, which evened the Crimson's record at 2-2, set a positive tone for its upcoming Spring Break trip, where it will play in the University of California at Irvine Invitational Tournament and then move on to Montgomery, Ala., where it is entered in the prestigious Blue-Gray Championship.

"It's good to get a match under our belts before going out West," second singles player Bill Stanley said.

Stanley won easily over Temple's Dan Wooten by scores of 6-1, 6-4.

Temple is one of the better eastern tennis teams, as shown by its triumph in the Atlantic 10 conference championships last year. However, the Crimson, currently ranked 23rd nationally, is on different level than the Owls.

"Temple's got some very good players," Co-Captain Larry Scott said. "But there was only one three-set match."

Scott, the top-ranked player in the East, was an easy 6-3, 6-3 winner at first singles over Paolo Toffolo.

"Larry Scott played very well," an impressed Toffolo said. "He's mentally very strong."

Darryl Laddin had a more difficult time during his 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 win over Drew Sorentino at fifth singles.

"I lost concentration in the second set," Laddin said. "He started to play better. In the third set I got back to what I was doing in the first set. My footwork was better."

The Palandjian brothers, Peter and Paul, had easy wins at third and fourth singles, respectively. Peter is currently the 71st-ranked collegiate singles player.

Arkie Engle handily defeated Dave Astorino of Temple at sixth singles and also teamed with Scott in a straight set victory at first doubles. Scott and Engle currently form the 19th-ranked doubles team in the nation.