The Harvard men's tennis team dropped a tough 5-4 decision to Dartmouth yesterday in front of 50 spectators at Beren Tennis Center.

The loss was Harvard's fourth in the Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis association (EITA), the most for a Crimson squad since 1949.

"It makes me sick to lose to Dartmouth," Harvard Co-Captain Roger Berry said. "It feels like a hangover."

After falling behind, 4-2, in singles, the netmen entered the three doubles matches needing to win all three.

The Crimson came up just a little bit short, winning two of the three doubles matches.

In number-one singles, Harvard Co-Captain Arkie Engle fell in straight sets to Bruce Steel, while Rob Soni tied the score with a straight-set decision, 6-2, 6-1.

Ravi Kumar, the number-five player, dropped a 6-3, 6-3 decision to Todd Kjeldgaard, while Berry fell, 6-2, 7-6 to James Savarese at number-four singles.

Jon Cardi, Harvard's freshman sensation, dropped the first set but fought back to capture a 6-4 victory over Pat Perry in the second set.

The freshman ultilizied his quickness to retrieve balls and used his forehand to devastate Perry in the final set, capturing a 6-3 decision for Harvard's second victory of the day.

Sophomore Mark Leschly lost the first set to Jeff Hawkins, 6-3, but rallied to win the second set, 6-4. Hawkins, however, was able to outlast Leschly in the final set.

Leschly went up, 3-2, in the third set, but Hawkings fought back to take a 5-3 lead. The sophomore then broke Hawkin's sevice-game and held his own to tie the set at 5-5. Each player held his next serve to send the set into a tiebreaker. Hawkins quickly jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Leschly closed the deficit to one.

But Hawkins went on to win four of the next six points to capture the set and match.

Three

At number-two doubles, Berry and Cardi started off fast, winning the first set, 6-3. But Perry and Savarese rallied to win the final two sets to clinch the match for Dartmouth, 5-2.

Since victory was not in hand, the Crimson found itself playing for pride. Harvard gutted out the final two matches, capturing three-set victories in each one.

At number-three doubles, Kumar and Soni breezed to a 6-3 victory in the first set. But in the second set, Kjeldgaard and Peter Kong fought back to win, 6-4.

In the final set, Kumar and Soni simply outplayed the Dartmouth duo in every facet of the game, capturing a 6-2 decision.

At number-one doubles, Leschly (who had to go through four rackets) and Engle lost the first set, 7-6. But the duo did not lose its composure, winning the next two sets in fine fashion, 6-2, 6-4.