It was the second time in as many weeks that Witcher had the misfortune of watching an opponent come back from a 2-0 deficit in the midst of a 5-4 Harvard loss. Against Princeton last week, despite a nagging illness, she nearly pulled off the fifth win that the Crimson needed. But, as with the Lewins match, she came up just short.

The loss left the Crimson with a fourth-place finish, a slight disappointment for a team that was ranked as high as No. 2 in the country a month ago. But with a starting lineup of two juniors, three sophomores, and two freshman, Harvard will have a great chance at the Howe Cup next year if it can continue to show as much improvement as in the past week.

"For sure we can win it all," Witcher said. "All the matches we had this year were super-close. Hopefully we'll pull through and win the Howe Cup next year."

Penn 5, Harvard 4

Harvard came into the Penn semifinal match Saturday as heavy underdogs. The Crimson had lost 6-3 to the Quakers a week before, and few of the six losses were even close. Penn was undefeated and favored to win its first national title ever. Penn was not about to let Harvard ruin its season.

But the Crimson managed to give the Quakers a tough match. The biggest improvement came from Coleman. Coleman went into the Penn match with an 8-1 record, ready to face the opponent that dealt her the one loss, Quaker senior Paige Kollock. Having lost 3-1 a week before, Coleman stunned Kollock, winning easily by a 3-0 margin (9-4, 9-5, 9-3).

"Our freshmen are really strong," Elias said. "There is a look of clarity, thought and concentration that they all have. It's hard for all the freshmen to step in there and win with all the pressure at this level."

As in the previous week, Penn relied on its strength at the top, while Harvard stayed close with its depth. Endresen posted a 3-1 win (9-4, 5-9, 9-1 9-3). Holland and Gregory remained undefeated on the year with Holland winning 3-0 (9-5, 9-5, 9-4) and Gregory taking a closer match, 3-2 (9-7, 9-3, 5-9, 0-9, 9-4).