Harvard's tennis team, fresh off a loss to Ivy leader Columbia over the weekend, gets a chance to get back on the winning track this afternoon in a match with a thoroughly outclassed Amherst squad.

"I expect we will beat Amherst decisively--they are just not as strong a squad and don't even have one real stand-out player," Crimson coach Jack Barnaby said yesterday.

Confidence

The confidence is justified. So far, the Sabrinas have lost more than they have won and to some teams that Harvard could handle easily. In short, it doesn't look like Amherst will spoil Harvard's chances for second-place honors in the Ivy League.

Which is just where Barnaby hopes the squad will end up. "Nobody will beat Columbia unless half their team drops dead," he said, "and the real battle will be for second."

Though Amherst won't get in the Crimson's way, several other teams have their eyes on the spot; among them Army, Cornell and Princeton. The Tigers may be favored over Harvard as they came closer to Columbia than the Crimson managed to.

Barnaby plans no changes in his line-up after the Columbia loss. He said it would be unethical and that there was no time for any challenge matches.

"Look, we lost by a narrower margin than that 6-3 score indicates," he explained. "In two of the games we could easily have won--we needed a few lucky breaks that didn't come, that's all. And I was very happy with the way we fought," he added.