In a best-of-seven competition, going up 3-0 usually predicates a victory.

Usually.

But up 3-0 against Dartmouth with four matches remaining yesterday in Hanover, N.H., the Harvard men's tennis team stared victory in the face and flinched.

Dartmouth won all four matches. And Harvard lost its undefeated season.

"Obviously, I was a bit concerned when we got so far behind that early," Dartmouth Head Coach Chuck Kinyon said. "But I also knew that our guys have picked each other up all year long. When certain players have had bad days, the other players seem to come through for us."

With the score tied 3-3, only Harvard freshman Todd Meringoff and Dartmouth's Sam Cook were on the court. Cook won the first set, 6-4, and Meringoff came back to win the second by the same score.

In the match-deciding third set, Meringoff rode three service breaks to a 5-4 lead over Cook.

But Cook won the next three games to take the set and the match.

First Win Since 1988

The Big Green's comeback win marked the first time it has defeated the Crimson since 1988. In addition, it gives Dartmouth a chance to grab a share of the Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis Association championship for the first time in school history. Both Harvard and Dartmouth are 6-1 in EITA play.

The previously unbeaten Crimson got out to a good start by winning the doubles point and capturing the first and second singles matches.

Super sophomores Andrew Rueb and Umesha Wallooppillai defeated the Big Green tandem of Dan Coakley and Chase Arnold 8-4 in the first doubles match, while Captain Pete Stovell and junior Marshall Burroughs clinched the doubles point by defeating the Dartmouth duo of Rich and Holden Spaht 8-1.

In singles play, Rueb remained undefeated in Ivy League play by crushing Coakley 6-1, 6-4. Burroughs also had an easy time in the second singles slot, dispatching Spaht 6-3, 6-2.

But then the Houston Oiler Factor kicked in.

Composure Crucial

Needing to sweep the final four single matches to win, the Dartmouth players responded with flying colors, displaying composure which have made Frank Reich proud.

Dartmouth's Alex Kaplan crushed Wallooppillai in the third slot 6-3, 6-1. The Green's Jim Rich edged freshman Danny Chung 6-4, 7-6 in the fifth position, while Randy White nipped freshman Howard Kim 7-5, 6-3.

With the score tied at three, the outcome of the meet rested on the fourth singles match between Meringoff and Cook.