On Mar. 28, the Crimson played a match in which it didn't really stand a chance. Taking on No. 3 Stanford at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium, Harvard couldn't even take a point, losing 7-0.

The Cardinal's top player and the No. 1 ranked player in the country, K.J. Hippensteel, began his comeback from mononucleosis. Hippensteel, paired up with David Martin, took on Swart and co-captain John Doran, also battling injury, at No. 2 doubles. The Stanford duo won 9-8 and their teammates at No. 1 then clinched the doubles point.

Stanford continued the rout in singles. Boasting four of the top 100 individual players in the country including Alex Kim, ranked No. 2 overall in the nation , the Cardinal didn't drop a set to Harvard.

Kim defeated Green, 6-2, 6-2, and at No. 2 Geoff Abrams defeated Lingman, 6-1, 6-4. Doran, now playing at No. 3, made a good fight but lost to Scotty Scott 7-5, 6-3. The rest of the singles players from Harvard barely made a whisper in defeat, going easily to the stronger Cardinal players.

Harvard got a day off on Mar. 29th before heading to Berkeley to play California, but even the rest day brought bad news.

The newly released Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings came out that day. Harvard, which in the past month dropped from a top-25 team to No. 66, was not even listed in the new rankings of approximately the top 75 teams. Its next opponent, California, had risen to No. 35 in the ITA polls.

The next afternoon, the Bears showed why they were so highly ranked, easily dismantling the Crimson 6-1. First, the three doubles teams all lost. Then, an attempt to shake up the singles line-up by Harvard Coach Dave Fish'72 backfired. Doran, playing at No. 1, lost a three-set match, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, to Eric Dmytruk. Green, at No. 2, dropped to John Fruttero 6-2, 6-3. Lingman had Harvard's sole win at No. 3, coming from behind to best Robert Kowalczyk 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. Harvard lost the last three singles matches, including a "double-bagel", a 6-0, 6-0 drubbing by Scott Kintz over Styperek at No. 5 singles.