With their victory over Arizona State in the second round, the Harvard pair landed in the quarterfinals and earned automatic all-American honors for their efforts.

"I was definitely talking to myself on the court, reminding myself that this was my last chance," Arnold said after the Arizona State match. "But I'm not thinking about it too much. I knew we had the chance to come here and do well, and now we can go even farther."

Arnold and Blake went on to defeat the Stanford doubles team of Paul Goldstein and Ryan Wolters 7-6 (1), 6-4 in the quarterfinals before having their luck run out against UNLV in the next round.

"I'm very happy with the way the week went," Arnold said after the semifinal defeat. "I'm glad Tom and I represented Harvard the way we did."

Besides all-American honors, Blake was named the National Player to Watch.

In early January, Blake established his presence on the national scene by winning the Milwaukee Classic championship.

The stellar play of Arnold and Blake helped ease the Crimson's pain after it was eliminated from the team tournament by Stanford, the eventual national champions.

Harvard, which had amassed a season record of 20-7, fell to the Cardinals 4-0 in the round of 16.

"Stanford is marching toward a national championship and they were ready to play," said Harvard head coach Dave Fish '72 after the defeat. "I thought that if they brought 100 percent of theirs against 100 percent of ours, they're going to win."

Stanford, with three players ranked nationally in the top 25, rode the momentum of the close doubles victory into the singles. The Cardinal triumphed in straight sets at No. 4, No. 1 and No. 3 for the 4-0 win.

Harvard's return to California for the NCAA Championships was not nearly as successful as its sojourn there during spring break. The Crimson ventured to the Golden State in late March to play in the California-Santa Barbara Invitational where it placed second.

In the first round, the Crimson defeated U.C.-Santa Barbara, 4-3, to earn a match-up with then-No. 2 Boise State. Harvard eliminated Boise St., 4-1, in the semifinals and then faced UNLV for the championship.

The Runnin' Rebels, however, had their way with the Crimson, defeating the squad from Cambridge 4-2.

The team graduates Arnold and senior captain Joshua Hausman, but returns a strong group of players, led by Blake, for next year.