The Crimson grapplers won their first Ivy League match of the season Saturday when they narrowly defeated Princeton, 15 to 12, on the I.A.B. mats.

The victory gives the Crimson a 1-3 record and a tie with Brown for fourth place in Ivy standings. "This was an important win for us," coach Pickett said. "We have now taken one leg of the Big Three Championship between Harvard, Princeton, and Yale."

Starting off strong in the lower weight divisions, the Crimson wrestlers swept four of the first five matches. In the 137-pound class, captain Nick Estabrook, whose ten-match winning streak was broken at the Cornell meet Friday, easily downed Princeton's Jim Marx, 8 to 1.

Harvard suffered its first defeat of the afternoon when Steve Astor (147) lost to Tag Geer, 5 to 2. After the Crimson lost in the 167 and 177-pound divisions, the varsity's early 12-3 lead, piled up on wins by Tony Woodfield (123), George Doub (130), and Bob Kolodney (157), was seriously threatened.

J.C. Fredenmuth von Helms, wrestling for the second time this year, met his second set-back at the hands of Tiger Rick Eckler (167) in a 7-3 decision. Then John Valentine (177) lost, 7 to 0, reducing the varsity's margin to three points.

In the afternoon's crucial match, varsity mainstay Red Grant came through with a 4-0 decision over Princeton's Dan Dent in the 191-pound class. A Tiger win would have tied the match and led to eventual victory, since heavyweight Duke Hurley lost 6 to 5 to Gerry Norton on a slam penalty.

The Crimson wrestlers will face Brown Saturday in what may be the closest match of the season. The Bruins defeated Princeton last week, 15 to 14, and will battle Harvard for fourth place.