Profuse swearing and the demise of more than one T-200 racquet thrown by an angry Blue. Devil greeted the men's tennis team on its trip to North Carolina yesterday. But this unique brand of Southern hospitality failed to ruffle the Crimson's calm as Harvard left the courts with a 6-3 victory.

Both teams had something to prove. Duke hoped to avenge the 8-1 shellacking suffered last year at the hands of the Crimson netmen, and the Crimson would have liked nothing better than to leave boasting a win over the team that had beaten Princeton, the Ivy League favorite. 7-2.

Take That

The Crimson took control early, with its aggressive plays foiling the Blue Devils' strategy of patient counter-punch play.

In the opening game. Howard Sands, in the number-one position. overpowered the unique double-fisted backhand of opponent Mark Flur to win, 7-6, 6-4. A series of long rallies dominated court play as Sands was forced to modify his usual serve and volley game and frequent the unfamiliar territory of the backcourt.

Don Pompan, in the number-two slot, followed Sand's lead and easily disposed of Joe Meyer. 6-2, 6-2.

Adam Beren in the number-three slot tackled the smooth and tricky backcourt play of Ross Dobbins to take the match. 7-5, 6-2.

In the number-four position, Michael Terner rebounded from his Wake Forest loss to beat Russ Gashe. 6-4. 6-3. while Warren Grossman in the number-five alot also exorcised his Blue Devil opponent in two sets.

Alex Sever. number-six player, suffered the Crimson's sole loss in singles competition.

Resting on the 5-1 score that marked the end of the singles competition and assured Crimson victory. the netmen lost two of the remaining three doubles matches.

"I think we're just tired of losing 5-4 matches," Sands said after the game. The win boosts the team's overall season record to 2-1. The Crimson will encounter its first Ivy competition when it confronts Brown Friday.