However, the second round proved to be theendpoint for the Blakes in doubles as well. FacingLuis Uribe and Enrique Aberoa of the KansasJayhawks, the all-important seventh game hurt theCrimson brothers.

The first set was played evenly until saidseventh game, when at 3-3 the Jayhawks broke theBlakes. Service held for the rest of the set, withthe Blakes falling 6-4.

The second set played out in identicalfashion--the Blakes lost serve at 3-3 and lost theset 6-4 to end Tom's career and the Blake-Blakeseason for Harvard tennis.

The Crimson season would have been incompletewithout a trip to the NCAA Tournament, and aclutch performance by a freshman in the Regionalswas the only thing that made that possible.

In the NCAA Region 1 finals, the Crimson facedthe Hokies of Virginia Tech, a team it haddominated 6-1 earlier in the season.

In the last match of the day, Clark came frombehind to take a 6-7 (1-6), 6-4, 6-1 win over MarkTepes at No. 5 singles and secured a 4-3 victoryand third-straight regional title for the Crimson.

Clark himself knew what he was up against.

"I asked Coach what was happening in the othermatches and he said, `We've won three and in theother two we're losing.'" Clark said. "I said`This gives me a chance to be a hero,' but I wasjoking. I didn't think it would happen. It justended up that way."

"Somehow [Clark] kept coming up with big shotsat the right time," said Fish. "Tepes keptfighting, but Scott would somehow get one morepunch in there."

Clark's heroics were set up by a Crimson lapse.The team dropped the doubles point, but stormedback to take a 3-1 lead behind James Blake's 6-0,6-2 dismantling of the 17th-ranked player in thecountry.

However, Harvard dropped matches at Nos. 2 and6 to let the Hokies back in. The win marked thethird time all season the Crimson had lost thedoubles point and come back to win a match.

While the Blakes grabbed most of the headlines,the spring part of Harvard's season was a trueteam effort. If one word were used to describe thesquad during this stretch, it would have been"deep."

Throughout most of the spring, the Crimson wasless than 100 percent but still went undefeated inIvy League and EITA play, winning both titles forthe ninth time in 10 years.

At one point in the season, the Crimson playedwithout Tom Blake, Kunj Majmudar, Scott Clark andJohn Doran, all of whom were in the top six. Yet,with all these injuries stacked up against them,Harvard didn't skip a beat, running through itsregular season opponents with uncommon ease. Itwas not until the match with Virginia Tech thatthe Crimson looked vulnerable.

Included in the spring run was a Crimsonvictory at the UCSB Gaucho Tennis Classic, a majorteam tournament where the Crimson fought hard totop Southwestern Louisiana by a 4-2 margin.