When I decided to follow in my brother's footsteps and come to Harvard for his senior year, it had a pretty minor impact on Harvard sports. I will say, however, that the world of MAC pick-up basketball was set on its ear for the 1995-96 school year.

But, in this 1997-98 school year, a pair of brothers with true athletic talent did put the Harvard community on notice. The Blake brothers--senior co-captain Tom and freshman James--were to play tennis here for one year of glory after which one would graduate and the other may move to the next level.

However, the Harvard tennis team (25-4, 9-0 EITA) was unable to truly take advantage of the bounty of Blakes this year as injuries kept the Crimson from advancing as far into the NCAA Tournament as their talent may have suggested.

The season ended for Harvard in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on May 23 in Athens, Georgia when the 13th-seeded Crimson dropped a heartbreaking three-and-a-half hour match to No. 3 seed and eventual national runner-up Georgia.

The Crimson was put in this less-than-peachy predicament because of its nemesis all season--the frailness of the human body.

Tom Blake went down with a hamstring injury in early April. Coach Dave Fish '72 may have cursed himself after the Crimson took its first two matches without the senior when he called Blake the "fastest healer" he had ever seen. The healing process was still incomplete as the NCAA Tournament rolled around, and that fact alone did serious damage to the Crimson's NCAA chances.

In the seeding meeting for the NCAA draw, Fish was asked to appraise his team's chances. Answering honestly, Fish said that the elder Blake was questionable to play and that even if he did play, he would be less than 100 percent. There went the 12th seed and there went the match with Illinois--a far lesser opponent than Georgia.

Record: 25-4, 9-0 EITA

Coach: Dave Fish '72

Highlights: Wins fourth straight EITA title; James Blake named EITA Rookie of the Year; Tom Blake named EITA Senior of the Year

Seniors: Tom Blake, Philip Tseng

"If you were starting with a coaching plan for the beginning of the year, every thing went perfect for us except Thomas getting hurt," Fish said. "As a regional representative you have to keep some credibility and pretending that Thomas is perfect is not the way we do things. If Thomas had not gotten hurt, we would have been the 12th seed and it would have been a whole different story."

This is especially true in retrospect, as the Crimson gave the powerful Bulldogs a run for their money in almost every match and came amazingly close to pulling off the upset.

In the record books, Georgia is listed as a 4-0 victor, but a more deceptive final result is hard to imagine.

Georgia's Toledo Corrales may have closed out the Crimson's season by holding serve at 5-5 and then breaking Harvard junior Kunj Majmudar at 6-5 to take a 6-2, 7-5 win at No. 4 singles, but the Crimson was in prime position to win the three remaining matches.