NEW HAVEN, Conn.--At the beginning of the season, he was a bit pessimistic, and even last week, with victories over Princeton and Penn already secure, he still wasn't counting any chickens, but here on Saturday, Jack Barnaby was all smiles.

By defeating Yale, 6-3, the Crimson racquetmen had presented him with a retirement gift upon which he really hadn't counted a few months ago--national intercollegiate title number 20 and Ivy League championship number 21. And the man who clinched the final title for Barnaby was someone upon whom nobody had counted just four days ago.

Four days ago, Robert Blake (it was a good week for Robert Blakes) was just the captain and best player on the undefeated freshman team. Then Ned Bacon, who normally plays number seven, came down with the flu, creating a vacancy on the squad.

Scott Mead and Ken Ehrlich moved up one notch to seven and eight, respectively, and Blake was now playing number nine in a varsity match for the national championship.

And when Harvard could forge only a 4-2 lead after the first two rounds (the team match was played in three rounds of three individual matches each), Blake's match suddenly became meaningful.

"Sure there was a little more pressure than usual," Blake said last night, "but there was added pressure for everyone, because we wanted to win for Jack."

Which is exactly what he did. With a 15-11, 18-16, 18-16 win, Blake gave the Crimson a 5-2 advantage and clinched the title. And, seeing as how Jeff Wiegand (a four-game loser) and Mark Panarese were splitting the final matches, a loss by Blake would have made matters a bit too close for comfort.

As it was, Blake's performance made the entire team breathe easier. "Halfway through my match, I came over and asked Jack how he (Blake) was doing," Wiegand said afterwards, "and Jack responded that he was playing debonairely." Barnaby's response obviously removed some of the pressure from Wiegand, who, in a 15-10, 10-15, 16-17, 15-18 defeat wasn't quite debonaire enough for one of the few times this season.

In fact, three of Harvard's top four players proved something less that suave against the Elis. In the first round, Bill Kaplan (number one) was victimized in three straight games by Yale captain Derrick Niederman, while Peter Havens lost a five-game, second-round struggle at number four.

Kaplan's defeat, however, was sandwiched by easy opening wins off the racquets of Cass Sunstein (number five) and Mead. The latter had no trouble in breezing to a 15-11, 15-11, 15-10 victory against an old friend, while the former found the New Haven atmosphere equally to his liking, triumphing 18-16, 15-8, 15-5.

And while Peter dropped his match, it wasn't a total loss for the Havens family. John, at number two, had the easiest afternoon of anyone, allowing just 21 points in a three-game sweep, and when Ehrlich then took a four-game struggle (the only Crimson win which required more than the minimum three games) to increase Harvard's lead to 4-2, it was time for Blake to "baretta" the Crimson position.

"I'm sure that everyone will say this," Blake said yesterday, "but I'm really happy to have been able to do it for Jack, because he's done so much for me. Just the day before, on Friday, he was the first one at practice and he played with me for an hour, despite the fact that he had a cold, and helped me with my game."

So Blake returned the favor and helped Barnaby add two more titles to a list which, after 44 years of continual expansion, can be added to but once more, at the six-man team championships this weekend at Williams College.