The Harvard men's tennis team shocked seventh-ranked Trinity, 5-3, yesterday in the opening round of the Intercollegiate Coaches Association National Indoor Team Championships at Louisville, Ky.

The upset earns the Crimson a chance to meet top-ranked and defending NCAA Champion UCLA in the tournament quarter-finals tonight.

Harvard, ranked 23rd nationally, won four of six singles matches, then split two doubles matches and had a lead in the third before tournament officials ended the match.

This is the second straight year that Harvard has knocked off a top-10 opponent at the tournament, and Coach Dave Fish said that he has learned from the experience. Last year, Fish said, the Crimson made a big deal of toppling eighth-seed Miann, 5-4, only to be shattered by an 8-1 thrashing at the hands of top-ranked Stanford the next day.

"We're not going to make it a big, special match," Fish said. "If they're too good for us, that's ok."

But then hinted that UCLA might not be "too good." "We didn't even play our best today," Fish said. "We have more in us."

"I don't think they're out of our league," said number two singles player Bill Stanley. "If everybody plays well, anything can happen."

Stanley defeated Trinity's Feinie Reinach at number two, 7-5, 6-2, and Darryl Laddin easily handled Trinity's John Hopper at number six, 6-1, 6-2. Number five Peter Palandjian also won in straight sets, while Arkie Engle went the distance to win at fourth singles.

Junior Larry Scott, the Crimson's top player, took the first set against All-American Chew Kennedy but came up short, falling in the next two sets, 6-1, 6-3. "I played him last year and got beaten pretty badly," said Scott. "I played a much better game this year."

The Crimson had a chance to put Trinity away before the doubles matches even started, but number three Dave Beckman couldn't capitalize on a match point opportunity. Trinity's Dexter M. Bride took two tie-breakers for a gutsy, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 victory.

Instead of having clinched the match, Harvard took a 4-2 advantage out of the singles. It almost caused a letdown. "We came out a little shaky in the doubles," Fish said.

But Harvard was able to overcome this tentativeness as the top doubles combination of Scott and Engle defeated Trinity's Kennedy and Chris Greer, 6-4, 6-4, sealing the Crimson victory and setting up an 8 p.m. date with the defending national champion Bruins tonight.

"There's a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of talent" on the Harvard team Scott said. "We haven't even been tested yet."

Tonight, they'll be tested