A contest with Yale is always the highlight of any varsity season. In recent years, however--particularly in such sports as tennis, squash and swimming--the concluding match with the Elis has also often decided Eastern League and Big Three championship races. The current tennis campaign, which starts next Wednesday with a match against M.I.T., is likely to follow a similar pattern, for coach Jack Barnaby's Crimson varsity and its Yale counterparts again stand out as the two top teams in the East.

Last year, the varsity upset a powerful Eli squad down at New Haven to take the Eastern League title. They defend this laurel now without the services of Dale Junta and Larry Sears,--first two singles men and the first doubles pair--who have both graduated. Yale, on the other hand, has its top six men back intact, and it will take another magnificent effort like last May's for Barnaby's team to overcome the New Haven powerhouse.

With Junta, Sears and Al Goldman gone from the top six, the current varsity has had to draw heavily from last Year's undefeated freshmen, who whipped Yale by 9-0 last spring. As the team now lines up, sophomore Bob Bowditch is at number one singles and teams with captain Ned Weld at first doubles. Jorge Lemann a former Brazilian Junior Davis Cupper and another sophomore, is at fifth singles, while Bob Schwartzman and Pete Smith are nine and ten, respectively.

While the team may lack a great individual star of the caliber of Junta and Yale's Don Dell, its depth is impressive. There are quite a few fine men below the present first ten, and Barnaby says he is "particularly pleased with the large number of potentially good players who have shown a continuous interest."

Below Bowditch, the present singles alignment has junior Tim Gallwey, whom Bowditch beat in a test match during the spring vacation trip at number two, with Weld playing third. Junior Fred Vinton is at fourth singles and pairs with Gallwey at second doubles. Lemann and senior Bill Wood, the sixth singles man, make up the third doubles pair.

Only the top six singles and three doubles will see action until the Princeton and Yale contests, which are played on a nine-match basis for the Eastern League and on a fifteen-match basis for Big Three purposes. Last year's Yale match, although the Crimson won the more important Eastern League match by 6-3, was an even split from the Eli standpoint, as they took the Big Three title, 8 to 7. In addition to Schwartzman and Smith, seniors Laurie Pratt and Jim Cameron--currently seven and eight--figure to play in the Big Three matches, although all the rankings may well be changed by test matches to be played in the next few weeks.

Of the rest of the league, only Dartmouth and Princeton seem to offer much competition for the varsity: the Indians because, according to Barnaby, they are "better than anyone gives them credit for," and the Tigers because the Crimson must play them at Princeton. The other league opponents are none too tough, and, of the non-league teams, only Amherst, which edged a crippled varsity last year, 5 to 4, might cause trouble, although they are much weaker than they were a year ago.

The most encouraging fact about the Yale match is that last year's Yardlings--one of Corey Wynn's best recent teams --swamped the Bullpups, 9 to 0. So, while the Elis have an imposing group of veterans, they can't expect much support from sophomores. If the Crimson sophomores--particularly Bowditch and Lemann--develop into first-rate varsity players, the varsity will be extremely tough for even Yale to beat.

Wynn's freshman crop once again looks promising, and, he says, it "could be as good" as last year's unbeaten team. Joram Piatigorsky, a high-ranked California junior, is established pretty well at number one singles, with Kal Pollen, Chris Clark, Larry Sobel and Mark Woodbury battling for the next four positions. Other contenders for singles spots are Jonathan Roosevelt, Jim Gordon, Roger Pauley and Jerry Black. The doubles teams, still undetermined, will no doubt be drawn from these nine men