For the Harvard men's tennis team, the season ended shortly before it began.

The netmen (3-7,0-1 EITA) lost their Ivy League opener yesterday to Columbia (11-3, 5-0 EITA) 8-1, in front of 100 spectators at Beren Courts. The loss was not only the Crimson's first EITA loss since 1984, but it also ended the squad's 24-game winning steak in the Ivy League.

Unless Columbia loses an Ivy game, the Crimson will not win its third straight EITA title, and its chances of receiving an at-large bid are slim.

"They just played better than we did," Harvard Coach Dave Fish said. "We're not healthy. But Columbia is a better team anyway. We did a lot of losing during spring break. I just think we played tough competition, and we forgot how to win."

"It's unfortunate that it came down to this match--especially the first match of the year," Harvard Co-Captain Bill Stanley said. "This match pretty much rules out any chance of making the NCAA's."

At first singles, the Crimson's Peter Palandjian fell 6-2, 6-3 to Columbia's Phil Williamson. In both sets Palandjian started off slowly.

After falling behind 2-0 in the first set, Palandjian rallied with strong cross shots to tie the match at 2-2. However, Williamson rebounded to win the next four games to capture the first set.

The second set was similar to the first, with Williamson jumping out to a 3-1 lead this time. Williamson increased his lead to 5-1 with some strong forearm shots.

But Palandjian served his way back into the game with some crisp overhead shots down the sideline to close the deficit to 3-5.

Columbia also won at second singles when Matt Litsky defeated Arkie Engle, 6-4, 6-1. At number three, Stanley lost a close 6-3, 6-4 decision to Keith Thomas.

"We just got beaten," Fish said. "You can look at all sorts of reason why we lost, but they were just the better team. That's the biggest reason."

After falling down 3-0 in sets, one of the best matches of the day occured between Harvard's Paul Palandjian and Columbia's Rob Kresberg.

Palandjian opened the first set fast, streaking to a decisive 6-3 victory in the first set. However, Kresberg fought back with excellent volleys to capture the second set, 4-6.

But in the third set, Kresberg stormed to a 6-3 win.

In the sixth singles, Hank Parichabutr had a tough match against freshman Jeff Chiang--as he fell 6-2, 4-6, 6-1--clinched the victory for the Lions.

"We played great," Williamson said. "We all came together and played well. I didn't think we would win 8-1. We knew they could play well, but we didn't think expect an 'easy' win. The scores are deceptive--all of the games were tight."

Double or nothing

In Doubles action, Engle and Palandjian fell 7-5, 6-4 to Endleman and Thomas; Palandjian and Leschly lost 4-6, 2-1(the duo retire because of an injury to Leschly); and John Stinebaugh and Roger Barry recorded the lone Crimson victory over Kresberg and Chiang. After splitting the first two sets, the Lions contigent jumped out to a 3-0 advantage, but the Crimson netmen fought back to win the next six out of the seven games.

The Crimson will host Penn this afternoon at Beren courts.

NOTES: Harvard now leads the series at 42-7...All of the Lions' wins have come since 1972... Harvard won last year's match, 6-3...Harvard has won 316 individual matches against Columbia, while surrendering only 119...Fish is 9-2 lifetime against the Lions...The last time Harvard lost at home to Columbia was 1975, 8-1.