Saturday's unexpected victory over Yale was the culmination of a rather successful season for the University tennis team during which the net men wen eight times, tied one match, and were defeated in four. The chief defeat that marred the record was at the hands of Princeton, which won for the fourth successive year.

The season started on April 16 when the team met the Agswam Hunt Club of Providence, R. I., in the first match of the spring trip. Here rain caused the playing to be carried on indoors, and it was possible to complete only two matches, the contest ending in a tie. In Virginia the team was more successful, defeating the Country Club of Virginia 9-0 at Richmond on April 17 and the Norfolk Country Club 7-2 on the following-day.

Two days later, however, it met the first of its four defeats at the hands of the strong Chevy Chase Country Club at Washington, D. C. Led by Mr. W. L. Washburn '15 the club displayed one of the strongest and best-balanced teams that the University was called upon to face. The match with the Baltimore Country Club, scheduled for the following day was cancelled, but the Crimson finished its Southern trip successfully with an 8-1 win over the Naval Academy at Annapolis.

One week later the team was defeated by the East Side Tennis Club of Providence, R. I., in the first home match of the season, the visitors winning 5-4 as the result of superior steadiness. The Colgate match had to be cancelled because of rain, but on the fourth of May, Williams was beaten 5-1 on the Longwood covered courts, while M. I. T. succumbed by the same score on the Divinity courts three days later.

In the match played at Princeton, N. J., on May 13, the Crimson was pitted against a stronger team, and while the upper matches were close, Princeton's strength was more evenly distributed and as a result her better-balanced team was able to take four singles and two doubles matches and defeat the University 6-3. Four days later Brown was defeated 6-0 at Cambridge in the second clean-sweep of the season, but the net-men lost to Dartmouth 4-2 in the fourth and last defeat of the season when the two teams met at Hanover on May 20. Pennsylvania was defeated 5-1 on the Longwood covered courts a week ago today, but here as in the Williams match the victors were at a handicap because of the indoor courts.

Finally on last Saturday the Crimson defeated Yale 5-4 in a fitting ending for the season, with a victory which was attained only after the University pulled up from behind to win the final doubles encounter.

In considering the reason for the University's four defeats, it is evident that it lacked the balance that was characteristic of Princeton, Dartmouth, and the club teams. Captain Duane, Pfaffman, and Guild who played first, second, and third singles respectively during almost the entire season, won 30 matches and lost but six. The cause of the defeats lay in the fact that these three men could not find adequate support in the remaining members of the squad.

Pfaffman, last year's Freshman captain, was the most consistent winner on the team, losing but one of his 12 matches. His one defeat came at the hands of Wheeler of Yale in the final contest of the year only after a three-set encounter in which both men won the same number of games. Although Pfaffman has the highest average, even more credit should go to Duane for his record of nine victories and three defeats. Playing first singles, he was called upon to meet some of the strongest players in the East, and was beaten only by Washburn of Chevy Chase, Howard of Princeton, and Sanders of Dartmouth, coming within two games of winning each of the last two matches. His playing was at all times fast and usually well-controlled, his biggest achievement coming last Saturday when he defeated Captain Williams of Yale after a hard-uphill contest.

Guild, the third member of the University's effective trio, won ten of his dozen matches, losing only to Shipway of Princeton and Carleton of Yale. He showed throughout an improvement over last year and in three matches won after his opponent had taken the first set.

Of the remaining players, J. D. Farnham and Key both won three and dropped two contests, Bradley broke even with four victories and four defeats while Holmes won two and lost three matches.

C. W. Farnham, played singles in the Yale match only, but here he defeated Schoonmaker 2-6, 7-5, 6-4. Three times in the second set the Yale man had him match point and a single misplay at any one of these times, would have made the final score, Yale 5, Harvard 4. Farnham, however kept his nerve and each time his steadiness pulled him through.

In the doubles teams the same lack of balance was the undoing of the Crimson. Duane and Pfaffman teamed well together and were able to win nine matches out of the 13 played, but no other really effective combination was secured until late in the season when C. W. Farnham and Key were discovered. Even at that late date they were able to win in the Pennsylvania match as well as take the crucial contest in the Yale match.

The prospects for next year are brighter than has been the case for several seasons. All three members of the first trio of singles players, Duane, Pfaffman, and Guild, are returning, but it is doubtful if they will preserve their standing as Ingraham, captain of this year's Freshman team is almost certain to fill one of the top singles positions. Briggs, another member of the 1925 team should fill one of the vacancies left by Bradley and Holmes, and the other position will have two applicants in J. D. and C. W. Farnham, both of whom are letter men