Lions and Tiger and Quakers, oh my!

With apologies to Frank Baum, these are the three teams the Harvard men's tennis team will have to down to capture its fourth Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis Association (EITA) title in the last five years.

It will take more than the Wizard for any of the other Ivy schools, Army or Navy to claim the crown Harvard. Penn, Princeton and Columbia have won the last 17 and 23 of the last 24 championships.

"I'm not sure the league is more talented [than in previous years]," says Harvard Coach Dave Fish, "but it's more equal There is a general overall ability in the league which is very good."

Parity notwithstanding, make no mistake: Harvard (8-1 EITA, 9-4 overall last year) is aiming to snatch the title again this year.

The Crimson foretold a strong league campaign with its performance in California over Spring Break. Playing against several top-20 schools, the netmen who were ranked 20th in the nation in a recent poll won five of their eight matches and finished fifth at the University of California-Irvine tournament.

The 5-3 mark included a 7-2 thrashing of highly regarded Minnesota and a narrow loss to second ranked USC.

"Our spring trip was really indicative of the kind of ability we have," Fish said. "Everyone knows that we're not going to overpower anyone with sheer talent, but we definitely can play with anyone in the country."

Co-Captain Larry Scott echoed this sentiment saying. "It we can compete that well on a national level, we're ready for the Ivy season."

The Crimson's singles line-up is set. All EHA players, Scott and Bill Stanley will play first and second singles, respectively Co-Captain and All- EHA doubles star Dave Beckman will play third, with Peter Palandjian, Arkie Engle, and Darryl Ladden rounding out the order.

Ladden and Palandjian were happy surprises in California where each posted an impressive 6-2 record.

Fish has had trouble determining his doubles pairing, however, "We have a lot of good people," he said, "whom I wouldn't think twice about moving into the line up."

Tenatively, Scott and Engle will play first doubles, Beckman and sophormore David Clark second, and Laddin and Palandjian third.

"We may be set for now," cautions, "but you're always going to keep looking at different line-up possibilities. Any kind of change would be based on how someone is playing at a given moment."

If the Cantabs do win the EITA crown, they'll advance to the 16-team NCAA playoffs, Eight at-large bids are distributed, but it is highly unlikely that an eastern school would receive one.