When five individual players must win their matches for the team to come out on top, an outstanding star has only a limited role in the outcome. The squad has got to have depth.

Varsity squash coach Jack Barnaby this year has both a great intercollegiate competitor and a solid core of players to back him up.

Junior Ben Heckscher is Barnaby's star. As number one man last year he lost only two matches. This season he could easily win them all. The fleet six-footer has smashing shots from anywhere in the court, and his hard service and sharp corner shots are deadly. Barnaby calls him "one of the fastest moving players in the game."

Numbers two and four men Cal Place and Lee Folger rely on the same forceful, aggressive game as Heckscher. Playing number five, Place lost only once last year, while Folger, a player who could not find himself last season, is the squad's most improved member.

Captain Pete Milton at three plays an orthodox game. Since he is too small to be a power player, Barnaby is teaching him to play the percentages, to control the play from the middle of the court, forcing his opponent into the corners.

"He's had trouble trying to play as though he was six feet tall and weighed 190. Now he's playing his own game--a smart game," Barnaby said.

Other returning lettermen are Charlie McVeagh and Roger Cortesi, at five and six respectively. McVeagh never played squash before he came to Harvard, but learned fast and improved greatly toward the end of last season. Cortesi, like Martin Heckscher at eight, plays a varied game. Both make good use of the side walls while wearing their opponents down with a steady stream of shots. Senior Lann Thomas will start at eight.

The ninth and last starting position is still open to a group of challengers. Larry Sears, Frank Bacon, Conrad Fischer, and John Davis are competing for the position.