The Harvard tennis team showed great promise for this season's competition as it posted a 6-6 record in exhibition play during its swing south this vacation.

The varsity squad, coached by Jack Barnaby and Dave Fish, whipped into action at Georgia Tech. The Crimson defeated Tech, 7-2, and added victories against Clemson and Furman, but fell short against Georgia, University of South Carolina, and Wake Forest for an even 3-3 tally on the trip.

Split Contest

The second team, consisting of J.V. and freshmen players, mimicked the varsity performance. It triumphed over Virginia Polytech Institute and the University of North Carolina J.V.'s, faulted in close matches at Furman and the Country Club of Virginia, and split a two-day contest with Davidson.

"I was pleased with the trip. I thought everyone played well--the match experience really helped us get back into top shape," coach Corey Winn, who traveled with the second team, said yesterday.

Captain Gary Reiner, playing at his usual number-one slot, notched a 3-3 record as he returned to action for the Crimson after sitting out the winter with a leg injury.

Sophomore Danny Waldman at number three was a standout performer and brought home the best record at 4-2, dropping matches to Georgia and South Carolina.

Georgia put up the stiffest opposition to the varsity singles, whipping them 6-0. Rain pre-empted the Crimson retaliation in doubles. "We lost some good close matches under a lot of pressure," assistant coach Fish said yesterday.

Fish said he is pleased with the perfomance of the freshmen on both squads. "Kevin Shaw, number four on varsity, brought a high standard of playing ability and match experience to the team," Fish said.

The varsity opens its regular season this afternoon with MIT at 3:30. The Crimson meets its toughest competition this weekend in back-to-back contests at Columbia and Penn. "This weekend should pretty much determine everything," Reiner said yesterday.

"It looks to be a very strong season. We're a good fighting team. We have a lot of talent--we're improving all the time. All we need is experience," head coach Barnaby said.