To no one's surprise, the Harvard women's tennis team trounced a hapless Cornell squad, 9-0, Saturday at Beren Courts.

The Crimson's systematic dismantling of the team Harvard Coach Don Usher labeled the weakest in the issues came as no great shock.

"I expected they come out the way it did," Usher said.

Coming on the heels of Friday's shutout of powerful Syracuse, this type of domination of Eastern tennis is becoming a Harvard trademark.

Charming the Hosts

With the grace and poise of champions, the netwomen meticulously, the netwomen meticulously tore apart their outclassed opponents--never allowing the Big Red so much as a flicker of hope.

"We went about it as something we just had to get out of the was a job to get done sophomore Robin Bass said.

"No one thought we would lose a set," freshman Cyndy Austrian said, "and we didn't."

Every one of the nine matcher were straightest Harvard victories, with Cornell struggling to pull out even a game in a few of the matches.

The Crimson completes its regular season with home matches against Dartmouth and Princeton on May 1 and it, respectively.

Usher is taking his usual wary stance regarding the Dartmouth match.

"This could be our toughest match of the year [excluding the spring break West Coast trip]," Usher warns.

His player have no such worries.

"I don't see much of a problem from here on in," Kathy Vignia said and Austrian went so far as to predict another 9-0 victory.

After the anticipated wins over the Big Green and Princeton, Harvard will have its third consecutive Ivy crown and a berth at the NCAAs, which begin May 16 in Oklahoma City.

At the NCAAs, however, the Crimson may run into a brick wall.

Most likely, Harvard will meeting of the top two teams in the nation, Stanford or USC, in the first round Both squads pummelled Harvard earlier this year, and a repeat of Last year's first round loss to USC looks like the betting man's choice.

Piling another rock onto the barricade that stands between Harvard and a national championship is the fact that some of the players will have to take a final exam the day before their first round match.

"We've talked about the NCAAs, and we're not counting on beating anybody. "Usher said, "but they're earned the chance to compete and they're going to go out there and do it."

Once again Usher's pupils pang a foster picture than he does.

"We does such good depth "we're looking to pull off an upset," Vigna said.

Nothing but the foolish idealism of youth, right?

Judging from the confidence and poise the Crimson demonstrated over this clean sweep weekend, this is one Cinderella story that just might come true.