With three successive 9-0 wins under its belt, the Harvard women's tennis team yesterday went after number four at Dartmouth.

And the Big Green was more than willing to comply. It was the Big Bad Sun that wasn't.

So with darkness setting in, the Crimson defaulted the number three doubles match and, as a result, this time had to settle for only an 8-1 win.

Ranked 15th in the nation and number one in the East, the Crimson squad convincingly disposed of the hot on the sunny Thompson Tennis Courts in Hanover, N.H. Harvard won all eight matches it played in straight sets.

The win upped the Crimson's overall record to 15-5 and its Ivy mark to a perfect 4-0.

Only a win over Princeton, which will host Harvard in New Jersey on Sunday, now stands in the way of a first-ever Ivy championship and a first-ever bid to the national championships.

Although yesterday's win won't go into the books as last week's 9-0 shutouts of Brown, Cornell and Syracuse did, the eight wins in yesterday's eight matches saw the Crimson display the power that's landed it its first-ever national ranking.

And while Dartmouth (0-6 overall, 0-5 Ivies) surely won't set the tennis world on fire any day soon, most had expected the Big Green to come a bit closer.

With its ace back from a weekend rest--top-seeded Elizabeth Evans sat out the wins over Cornell and Syracuse--the Crimson cruised through its six singles matches.

Evans led the way, scoring a 6-0, 6-1 win over Julie Park in the number-one match. Only senior Erica Schulman had a bit of trouble, winning a tiebreaker in the first set, before disposing of Dartmouth's Anne Derzon, 6-1, in the second set of the number-five match.

In doubles, Evans and freshman Robin Boss teamed for an easy victory in number-one doubles, while freshman Kathy Vigna and sophomore Roberta Hing took the second doubles.

Harvard 8, Dartmouth 1

at Thompson Courts

Singles

1. Elizabeth Evans (H) d. Julie Park (D), 6-0, 6-1