M.I.T. traditionally doesn't provide much competition for the varsity tennis team, and it would surprise no one if this year's Engineer squad came out a 9-0 loser against Harvard today at M.I.T.

There will, however, be some interest in the outcome of the number one match; Harvard's Frank Ripley meets the Engineers" Bent Aasnes a tall Norwegian who was rated the third-best collegiate player in New England last year. In last year's M.I.T.-Harvard match, Aasnes dueled the Crimson's top player, Paul Sullivan, for two hours before losing, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.

At that point Ripley was a number two player, and later in the year he sank to number three. But this year he seems to have developed. He won four straight intercollegiate matches on the vacation tour, winding up with a 6-4, 6-3, demolition of Army's touted Walt Oehrlein.

"The only word for Rip's play that day is brilliant," coach Jack Barnaby rhapsodized yesterday. "The team had just come up from the warm Southern weather to a very cold, windy day at West Point, but Ripley took charge right away."

The rest of the M.I.T. squad shouldn't offer the Crimson much trouble; last year everyone except Sullivan won in straight sets.

Barnaby was enthusiastic about his team's play during the vacation tour. He split his squad into two equally balanced seven-man teams, and they compiled a 6-2-1 record against some tough competition--Georgia, Presbyterian, Georgia Tech, and Clemson.