“I had just decided to get to the net as much as possible,” Lee said about his pre-game strategy.

It worked in the first set, when Lee’s aggressiveness frustrated Berke, who kept dumping passing shots into the net and having his lobs snagged by the wind. Lee took the first set, 7-5, and drove the home crowd wild.

By that time, Nguyen and Riddell had already won their matches in straight sets, putting the Crimson up 2-1. But the freshman Chu was starting to lose control of his match..

Several close calls by his opponent, combined with missed groundstrokes, angered Chu to the point of his yelling at the umpire. Coach Fish had to calm him down, but Chu had already lost the second set, 6-1, and Goldman was gaining confidence.

“[Chu] let that anger run him from that time on,” Fish said.

The match continued to get tighter. Turner got back into the match at No. 6 singles with a 6-3 win in the second set, but Chu lost the third set, enabling Yale to tie the score 2-2. Berke had steamrolled Lee in the second set, and Choo had lost the second set to Murphy, 7-5.

Turner got the Harvard crowd back in it by completing his comeback with a 6-1 victory in the final set. The Crimson was now one victory away from the ECAC finals.

Lee had been up 5-4 in the third set, but Berke won two straight games, giving him a 6-5 advantage and a chance to serve for the match. The Yale junior held serve and took the third set, 7-5.

“If anyone’s gonna make that match [over Berke], it’s Will,” Fish said. “He’s fearless in these David-Goliath matchups.”

Lee didn’t see himself as overmatched as David, however.

“I expected him to drive more, but I didn’t expect all those drop shots,” Lee said. “I’ve beaten players of his caliber before.”

With the score tied 3-3, the deciding match was on court No. 4, where Choo and Murphy were in the third set. Murphy had control of the match—he simply did not miss. Choo, on the other hand, seemed frustrated at his own play and couldn’t find an opening to attack his opponent.

Murphy took the set, 6-1, to give Yale the match and a trip to the finals.

“We did fine,” Fish said. “We just didn’t win.”

Despite home-court advantage and the No. 1 seed, the Crimson will have to wait until the spring to exact revenge on Yale.