The dynasty continues.

The nation's 24th-ranked Harvard women's tennis team captured its sixth straight Ivy League championship with a convincing 6-3 victory over the Tigers Wednesday in Princeton.

The Crimson (20-7 overall, 7-0 Ivies) also increased its current winning streak to 10 matches in 1988.

The win, which gave second-year Coach Ed Krass a second Ancient Eight championship, earned the Crimson its fifth-straight bid to the NCAA Championships, which will begin Wednesday at UCLA. Harvard--seeded 20th in the tournament--will play Trinity University, the 13th seed.

Expansion

The NCAA has increased the field to 20 this year, and teams seeded from 13-20 will play each other in first round matches.

Harvard has opened with Stanford or Florida--the top ranked teams in the country--for each of the last five years.

"We won the Ivy title with team unity and team depth," Krass said. "The team worked hard all year and it's paid off. We have a lot of team spirit. It was another good win on the road for us."

Taming the Tigers

In the number-two doubles match with Princeton, Harvard's Amy deLone and Christina Dragomirescu raced to a 6-1,6-4 victory over Aditi Viswanathan and Susie Werthheimer.

At number-two doubles, Harvard Captain Cyndy Austrian and Kathy Mulvehal captured the first set, 6-4, over Lisa Nyman and Matha Leggat. The Crimson duo led the second set, 6-5, but Nyman and Leggat rallied to win the set in a tiebreaker.

In the third and final set, Austrian and Mulvehal cruised, capturing a 6-1 triumph.

"They were a little tougher than we'd imagined," Mulvehal said. Their crowd really got into the match. They were screaming every time Princeton scored a point. That really fired us up in our doubles matches.

At number-one doubles, Harvard Co-Captain Kristin Bland and Jamie Henikoff, the nation's 30th-ranked pair dropped the first set, 6-3, to Diana Gardner and Lauren Fortgang, but rallied to take the second set convincingly, 6-1.

But in third and final set, the Crimson duo dropped a tough 6-4 decision.