In a fitting tribute to the parity within the Harvard men's tennis team this season, its top players lost in early rounds while a freshman and an unheralded junior went deep into the ITA Rolex East Regionals Individual Tournament this weekend at Princeton.

The tournament was one of nine regional ITA tournaments held this weekend. Ninety-six of the top players from 47 eastern U.S. colleges competed in the singles and doubles tournaments, with the singles finalists and doubles champions advancing to the ITA Rolex Indoor Championships held in February.

The Crimson's weekend was a mix of surprising success and disappointing defeat. Joe Green, co-captain and the team's top player, was seeded No. 7 in the field. After a bye in the first round and an easy 6-1, 6-2 victory over Andre Vanier of St. John's University, Green faltered and lost to unseeded Ahn Ahn Liu of Princeton, who went on to the semifinals.

Sophomore William Lee, the Crimson's other seeded player at No. 13, didn't even fair as well as Green. After the first-round bye, Lee lost 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 to John Portlock, also of Princeton.

"I guess I just didn't feel very comfortable, I was tight and nervous," Lee said.

Freshman Dave Lingman, on the other hand, was anything but nervous. Unseeded and in the middle of the pack on the Harvard team, Lingman had a great run through the tournament. In the first round, he defeated Jay Bruner of Virginia Tech in straight sets. Then after a tough 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 second round victory over Akshay Jagdale of Rutgers, Lingman made his big upset.

With relative ease, Lingman toyed and dispatched No. 14 seed Steve Millerman--Columbia's No. 1 player--6-3, 6-4. Lingman then had a shot in the fourth round against No.5 seed Eric Scharf of St. John's, but ultimately fell 6-0, 6-4.

"I played better than I had been the whole season," Lingman said. "My forehand and serve were working well. I was actually disappointed I didn't get farther."