Blake provided the fourth team point with a victory at fourth singles, winning 6-4, 6-2, and insuring the Crimson victory.
Even with the outcome decided, however, the intensity of tennis in the remaining second and sixth singles matches remained at third-set-tie-breaker levels.
At sixth singles, junior Todd Meringoff got off to a quick start and won the first set handily, 6-2, before faltering 4-6 in the second. In the deciding set, Meringoff dominated the action and Jumped out to a 5-1 lead. After several nervous moments when it appeared that his opponent would be able to climb back into the match, Meringoff was able to put the set away, 6-3.
At second singles, Tseng and Columbia's Rohit Reddy played out the day's most compelling match, a three-set marathon amidst boisterous cheering from both squads.
Tseng came up short in the first set, dropping the stanza in a tiebreaker. Tseng fought back to knot the match with a 6-3 win in the second set.
The two battled to 4-4 in the final set, before Tseng broke Reddy's serve in the ninth game. Tseng held serve to close out the win, 6-4, completing the Crimson's sweep of the singles matches.
The 6-1 win over the Lions was tinged with revenge for some. Columbia had defeated Harvard last season en route to the league crown.
"For me there was a little revenge factor," Chung said. "It was a really painful loss for us last year. But we tried not to get too emotionally involved."
"It's always nice to beat a team that beat you last year," Valkin said.
The netmen are in action again today against Pennsylvania (14-3, 4-0), the top team in the EITA going into this weekend.
The Quakers have already defeated a strong Princeton team and have moved up to 44th in the Rolex Collegiate Rankings. Weather permitting, the matches will be played outdoors at Beren Tennis Center.
The Crimson victory yesterday, however, will not erase the memories of the five California defeats.
"The California trip was vital for us as a team," Rueb said. "We had to suck up a couple of losses, but we can use them as fodder for our cannons through the Ivy season."