Netmen Crunch Penn State, 6-3; Netwomen Have Good Swing West

Where is Joe Paterno when you need him?

But it may have taken more than Penn State's resident football genius to propel the Nittany Lions past the Harvard men's tennis team yesterday at the Palmer Dixon Courts.

After having a successful spring break in California--winning three of seven from some of the nation's top teams--Harvard had a triumphant return to Cambridge, dumping Penn State, 6-3, in front of 15 spectators.

Likewise, the nation's 24th-ranked Harvard women's tennis team posted a 3-4 mark against some of the top teams in the country during a swing west. The Crimson chalked up wins against Cal State-Fullerton, the University of San Diego and the University of Nevada-Las Vegas in its annual spring break trip.

Against Penn State, Harvard Co-Captain Arkie Engle was the first one to finish his match, capturing an easy 6-0, 6-2 victory over Brad Fieldings.

After sophomore Rob Soni dropped a tough three set match, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, freshman Ravi Kumar recorded a come-from-behind victory over David Schoenly.

Kumar dropped the first set, 7-5, but the freshman rallied to win the final two, 7-5, 6-3. Sophomore Mark Leschly and Roger Berry both cruised to two-set victories over their opponents.

Freshman Robert Ajemian, playing in his first varsity match, captured a 6-4, 6-4 victory over David Welch.

Doubles

In doubles action, Leschly and Engle recorded a 6-2, 6-3 decision over Fieldings and Cavalier, while freshmen Monroe Labouisse--also playing in his first varsity match--and Ajemian dropped a 6-1, 6-2 decision to their opponents.

At number-two doubles, Kumar and Soni split the first two sets against their opponents. Then, in a tie-breaker to decide the third set, they fell, 7-5.

Penn State insisted on playing a tie-breaker (as opposed to a full set) because it had to travel to Yale.

Fun, Fun, Fun

This year, the squad finished its trip to California with a 3-4 record. Harvard began its trip by finishing ninth in the U.C.-Irvine tournament.

The netmen opened their slate with a tough 5-4 loss to Nebraska.

After falling behind, 4-2, in singles matches against Wichita State, the Crimson rallied to win the match by winning all three doubles matches.

Harvard then defeated Washington, 8-1, and Yale, 5-4, to place ninth in the tournament, a misleading finish since the squad won three of its four matches.

"The trip went really well," Engle said. "We had a lot of 5-4 matches. We got a lot of good competition. We now know how crucial every match is."

The Crimson dropped a 5-1 decision to Chapman College, followed by a pair of tough 5-4 losses to California Polytechnic and Santa Barbara.

The Harvard men's "B" team finished with a 4-4 record on its spring trip south. Harvard scored victories over NAIA Division members Wake Forest (9-0), High Point (8-1), Guilford (6-3) and Virginia Commonwealth (5-4). However, the netmen lost to Davidson (7-2), University of North Carolina at Charlotte (6-3), Elon (7-2) and Atlantic Christian (8-1). Ajemian won seven of his eight matches.

Netwomen

"We had a terrific time," said Co-Captain Cyndy Austrian of the Crimson women's swing west. "We lost three close matches that we thought we could have won. We now know what it's going to take to beat these teams at nationals."

The Crimson opened its trip with a 6-0 victory over Cal State-Fullerton, followed by a tough 5-4 loss to the University of Pacific and a 6-3 victory over San Diego.

Harvard then met up with 19th ranked Pepperdine. The match was tied at 4-4 with the second doubles match left. Pepperdine won the last match to clinch the victory.

Continuing its competition against top-ranked teams, the netwomen lost a 7-2 decision to fourth-ranked UCLA. Harvard closed out its trip with a 6-3 loss to Santa Barbara and a 6-0 blitzing of UNLV.