TENNIS

With the Yale match only three days away, Coach Jack Barnaby's tennis team is a far stronger aggregation than it was at the beginning of the season, and, if anything, looms as a slight favorite against the Elis on Saturday.

If their outside record of three victories against four defeats is none too impressive, it should be noted that they had to battle their way through a torrid schedule of five outside matches in nine days against the strongest teams in the East and the last time they lost they pressed North Carolina to the limit before succumbing 5-4.

Burt and Gilkey Are Mainstays

The strength of Coach Barnaby's team centers mainly around the first two men, Dave Burt and Captain Langdon Gilkey, who also form the number one doubles pair. These two players are very evenly matched; thus far Burt has kept the number one position because of his impressive record in outside matches, despite the fact that Gilkey won the only test match they have played. The secret of Burt's success is his steadiness and accuracy combined with an extraordinarily fine competitive temperament which has brought him victory over Mattman, Bellis, and Ryder, number one of Miami, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina respectively.

Captain Gilkey possesses the most powerful strokes on the team and a rapidly improving not game makes him as strong a number two player as there is in the East. At the number three position is John Palfrey whose suddenly acquired control brought him victory in his last two starts. Right below him is his doubles partner, Walter Muther, who has jumped up from ninth position since last year by virtue of a fast all around game. Occasional erratic spells in his game are his only weakness.

Holding down the number five post is Chet Legg whose lack of success in outside matches is no indication of his ability. His problem is to play as well in matches as he can in practice. 'Filling out the first six is Jack Stewart, whose long reach and dogged fight make up for what he lacks in fluency of stroke. This first team is composed entirely of Juniors and the improvement they have shown bodes very well for next year.

Since the Yale match is a ten man affair the bottom four positions are of decisive importance. Three Seniors and one Sophomore will probably fill out the team. George Goodwin '39 at number seven has good ground strokes and a strong overhead. He and Art Brooks '39 make up the third doubles team; the latter plays number ten in singles. Bill Everts '39, who easily defeated the number one player of M.I.T. last Saturday, and Homer Peabody '41, first on last year's Freshman team, will occupy the eighth and ninth positions respectively.

There will be a post season match against Cornell on May 27, and on June 30 four members of the tennis team will join three players from Yale in a trip to England to play a series of matches against a joint Oxford-Cambridge team. Right now the four Harvard players, (the fourth member will go as an alternate) include Burt, Gilkey, Palfrey, and Muther.