Although Harvard has not been defeated by Amherst in tennis since 1958 and it is highly unlikely that the Crimson will lose there this afternoon, the decisiveness of Harvard's victory could have a bearing upon the optimism with which the squad approaches the remainder of the season.

Both of the Crimson's Northern matches last week were clear-cut routs, but in each instance, there were factors that qualified the meaning of the results M. I. T. which Harvard whipped 8-1 had little depth behind the first two players on its ladder: and Navy, which lost 9-0 at Cambridge last weekend, was playing its second road match in as many days on an indoor surface with which it was unfamiliar.

This is not to imply that the victories were tainted, since the Crimson was clearly the superior team in both cases. But today's match, against a team that has four men returning from the squad that placed second to Harvard at the New England championships last year, will probably provide a better measure of the Crimson's quality, especially since it is being contested at Amherst.

Last season, Harvard mastered the Lord Jeffs without incident. 7-2, but the two performers who won points for Amherst both return, and in each instance will face Harvard players that ranked lower on the ladder than the men the Jeffs defeated.

Junior Mike Pelletier, the Amherst captain and top singles player, is the Purple's most obvious threat. He dashed Harvard's Rocky Jarvis in straight sets in last spring's match, and won the Southern, Florida Invitational Tournament last week.

But although Pelletier should be favored over the Crimson's Bill Washauer at number one this afternoon, his past inconsistency may make his superiority more open to argument. Last spring, after ripping Jarvis, he lost just as badly to Harvard's Terry Oxford, who played beneath Jarvis, at the New Englands.

Possible Problems

Behind Pelletier, the Jeffs have two others who could give Crimson performers Dave Fish and Chris Nielsen problems. Junior Tom Suher, who beat Oxford 7-5, 6-3 last year, will probably play at number two, and sophomore Tom Ryan, last year's top freshman performer should be at three.

But Harvard will probably sweep all three matches at the bottom of the singles ladder, and capture at least two victories in the doubles, so the Crimson is in no real danger of losing the match. It would take at least seven points, however, to permit Harvard to look forward to Princeton with any degree of hope.