The Harvard men's tennis team escapes to warmer climates for the second straight weekend as it travels to the West Coast for the Gaucho Classic, hosted by the University of California at Santa Barbara.

The Crimson (11-3) will begin its spring break early when it takes on the winner of Boise State and the University of San Diego at the Knollwood Tennis Club in sunny Santa Barbara on Friday in the early afternoon.

Harvard is seeded second in the tournament behind No. 5 Southern Methodist University.

The Crimson retained its No. 16 place in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association national ranking, published on Tuesday, after it went 2-1 at the Blue-Gray Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Alabama.

The Crimson defeated Boise State 4-1 on the opening day of the Classic, but fell to a streaking No. 37 Virginia 24 hours later. Virginia had upset No. 28 Alabama before defeating Harvard, and eventually fell to No. 5 SMU in the semifinals, 4-2.

In its final match at the tournament Harvard defeated Northwestern 4-2. The Crimson finished the tournament in fifth place out of a field of sixteen teams that featured six other squads in the top thirty.

Although the team retained its ranking in the ITA poll, and many of its individual players advanced in the individual rankings, the tournament was cause for some concern.

Harvard's biggest problem of the tournament first showed up in its dual meet against Virginia Commonwealth University prior to the trip to Alabama.

Playing at Old Dominion University, the Crimson dropped the doubles point as the team's No. 1 duo of sophomore James Blake and co-captain Kunj Majmudar was edged out 9-8 by VCU's top doubles team.