Racquetmen Roll to 9-0 Victory Over Green

The Harvard men's squash team shot cut Dartmouth yesterday at Hemenway Gym to raise its record of dual matches to 9-0.

The shutout victory came on the heels of last weekend's national five-man championship, and the Crimson was still riding the wave when it rolled over the Big Green, taking 27 of the 30 games played.

"We had a lot of momentum coming off the win last weekend," freshman Russ Ball said.

The only racquetmen who dropped games to the Big Green were David Segal at number eight (who lost a 15-14 tiebreaker in the third game of his 3-1 victory over Chris Hunt), and fifth ranked Joe Dowling (who was taken to the limit by Dartmouth's Tom Kong).

Dowling, who never fails to provide a thrill, was taken to five games for the fourth time in the past two weeks. The sophomore lost the first game in a tiebreaker, but came back to take command with two 15-5 victories to put himself up, 2-1.

But when Kong fight back to score a 15-11 victory in the fourth game, the match stood tied at two.

Dowling fell behind, 7-5, in the rubber match, but the then ran off seven straight to held on for 15-12 win.

The rest of the Harvard lineup had little trouble with the Big Green, as all seven coasted to 3-0 victories.

"We were a good bit stronger than them," Harvard Coach Dave Fish said.

The match should be a good tune-up for the Crimson, who will face stiffer competition this weekend from Yale and Princeton.

The racquetmen host old Eli's men on Saturday, and then fly to Princeton that evening for a Sunday date with the Tigers.

Two wins this weekend would wrap up the national nine-man championship, as the Crimson would finish with an untainted dual match record.

The title would be the second step for Harvard in its pursuit of the "Triple Crown" of collegiate squash--the five, six and nine-man championships.