The varsity tennis team's strength at the bottom of the ladder will probably prove too much for Pennsylvania this afternoon, but the match promises to be a close one nonetheless.

The two teams are the only ones in the Eastern, League given a chance of upsetting defending champion Princeton later this year. Today's duel should determine who, if anyone, is going to give the Tigers a run for their money.

In the number one match two of the East's strongest players, Frank Ripley and Penn's John Reese, meet in a battle of big games. Ripley and Reese have never played each other; both have winning records this season and are experienced match players.

Ripley, in fact, hasn't lost an intercollegiate match this season, and he probably has to be given a slight edge today. Penn's home courts are concrete, and Reese may be at a disadvantage moving from hard-surface courts to the clay at Soldiers Field.

Steele vs. Brown

The number two match could be the day's most exciting or it could be a onesided romp. The Crimson's erratic Chum Steele, at times a player of dazzling ability and at times almost baffingly off form, was the only Crimson player to lose against Columbia, and he almost lost against Brown. Steele will meet a player as erratic as himself today in Penn's Bailey Brown, a gigantic, powerful, temperamental player.

Brown was suspended from the Penn team last fall for skipping practices; this spring he had a shoulder injury and didn't go on the team's vacation tour. He was scheduled to return to action just after vaction.

If Brown plays at number two, the third match should turn into a memorable pushing duel between Crimson sophomore Dave Benjamin and Penn's Richie Kolker, a pair of ground-stroke specialists.

Unlike his teammate Reese, Kolker is at home only on clay courts; Ripley smashed him 6-1, 6-1 last year on the hard surface at Penn. Benjamin, too, is largely a back-court player, though he can hit with power; his size (5'8") makes it easy for an opponent to lob him.

After number three, it should be all Harvard; Sophomore Clive Kileff is almost certainly the best number four man in the Eastern League. Basketball captain Bob Inman, who uses his 6'4" frame to hit the hardest serve of the team, and captain Sandy Walker hold the last singles spots.

Doubles is likely to be the team's strong point; Steele and classmate Dean Peckham are an experienced combination at number one; Ripley and Inman are big and powerful enough to blow most number two teams off the court. They won over Army's talented Oehrlein brothers in a match at West Point.