Blue Invasion

"The more I see of this game of squash," said Coach Harry Cowles, as we discussed the prospects of the Yale match which is to be played on Saturday afternoon in the Linden Street Courts, "the more I am convinced of the advisability of the hard, side wall game. Perhaps the first difficulty I meet in training good players into this style is one of making them understand that an occasional soft shot played along the wall is more vulnerable than the average match-play corner shot. In other words, the corner shot that is not perfectly executed is a set-up for the other player, whereas the ball hit from the rear of the court is comparatively hard to put away."

The Yale match is going to be a test that will definitely determine the caliber of the Crimson racquet-men. Last week a few of the squad got together an informal team, drove down to Princeton, and were defeated 4 to 1. Yale has previously downed the Tiger aggregation, and now the question is, can they repeat their success in Cambridge. It is not an easy question to answer, but I feel that Cowles' outfit will come out on top. The loss to Princeton does not prove a great deal, and the team, in its regular line-up, will have several advantages over the sons of Eli. They will be playing in home courts; they have been training for this climax of the season, and have thereby aroused a spirit of competition which, however the English choose to look at it, has a great deal to do with winning; they have been playing regularly against--experienced men during the league matches of the Massachusetts Squash-Racquets Association; and they have had the coaching of an acknowledged authority. Unless Yale has some hidden genius which she has not shown, there is no good defence for a Blue victory.

The outstanding player on the Varsity squad is Robert Grant, III '34, who recently captured the State crown. Although it can not be said that he completely fills the position that Beekman Pool held last year, it must be admitted that he is fast attaining the latter's ability and speed. At the first of the year his game was not too steady, and several times during the season it seemed as though he lost his grip temporarily. However, his game is now reliable, and he is in a position to do a piece of good work to finish his first year of Varsity play. Huntington Hartford, who holds down number 2 berth on the first team this year, has played an inconsistently brilliant, uncertain game of squash. When he feels the urge, he can display deadly accuracy, and at other times he appears in need of a fight talk--but who ever heard of a fight talk in squash? J. G. Cornish ocC will probably play in third place. During the season he has developed a smashing game that is hard to overcome. At one time seeming to lack the idea of volleying high shots that put him out of position, he has by practice largely eliminated this fault. Sandy Davenport '34 has carried on throughout the winter, winning his matches with an almost professional regularity. Evidently his experience in tennis tournament play has minimized the difficulty of gaining a mental equilibrium, which, however intangible it may sound, is a determining factor in any sport. F. L. Young '33, one of the few Seniors on the squad, has improved in the last week or so, and is now considered a valuable asset against Yale. H. V. Blaxter '33, who has played on the A team most of the season has a good chance of scoring his point for a Crimson victory; while S. G. Haskins '35, the only Sophomore among the first ten players, couples a slightly unorthodox style of playing with indefatigable endurance, which breaks down an opponent's complacency as nothing else can. Bo Breck '34, recently out of Stillman infirmary, and Marshal Fabyan '34, complete the nine-man team, while J. B. Walker '33, Archibald Cox, Jr. '34, and R. S. Francis '33 are the reserves.

Old Tale Revised

Turning to House squash, for a few brief comments on the practically completed season, the one general characteristic that separates itself to stand out in any sort of a comprehensive view is the peculiar combination of indifference and enthusiasm displayed by the teams. There is perhaps one tangible reason for this condition. In the first half year with negligible exception, the teams in the A division were pretty closely bunched. Instead of producing a generally competitive spirit among the House athletes, this served only to produce an attitude of general indifference. It may have been this attitude which enabled an ambitious and calculating Leverett House squad, probably the smallest of any of the Houses, to piece together a first team which barely won the first half, and which has clinched the second during the last few days. Several times during this period there have been dark rumors about "ringer" teams being formed to put an inglorious stop to the march of the Rabbit aggregation, but evidently the potential tortoises did not persevere as in the fable.

In the three other leagues, the story is quite different. The massive squads in Eliot, Lowell, and Dunster Houses, following natural expectations, managed to produce B, C, and D teams of necessary strength to overpower teams with lesser reserves. At the end of the first half, Dunster and Lowell tied in the B and D leagues, and Lowell led the C league. Thus far in the second half, Eliot, Adams, and Lowell tie for first place in the B league, Lowell and Dunster tie for first place in the C league, and Dunster leads in the D league.