Almost was good enough for sophomore Alexis Martire, who finished second in this weekend’s ITA Eastern Championships at the Murr and qualified for Indoor Nationals next week in Dallas.

Martire defeated Maryland’s Delila Causevic 6-3, 6-1 in the semis yesterday morning before losing a heartbreaking final, 6-1, 6-7 (7), 3-6 to Megan Muth of William and Mary. Muth had downed Harvard sophomore Susanna Lingman 6-4, 6-1 in the other semifinal.

The championship was a gripping, back and forth battle. Martire dominated the first set, running Muth all over the court, hitting winners and capitalizing on errors.

“[Martire] played some of her best tennis,” Harvard coach Gordon Graham said.

Martire was ahead 4-1 in the second when Muth tightened up her game and began fighting back.

“I was frustrated,” Muth said. “I couldn’t figure out a way to win points. My coach told me to go for angles, don’t go for winners, be consistent.”

Muth, a freshman, held serve to go to 4-2 and then took Martire to deuce in that crucial seventh game. On the third deuce point, Muth hit a terrific drop-shot winner. In frustration, Martire whacked the ball in to the stands.

“That wasn’t on purpose,” Martire said. “I meant to hit it in to the net and it went in to the stands.”

The line judge penalized Martire one point, giving the game and break to the Muth.

“I was confident that I could have won that game,” Muth said. “But I got a lucky break.”

Muth then held serve to even the set and broke Martire at love to go up 5-4. With the pressure on, Martire came back, was broken at love again and broke back a final time to force the tie-break.

The tie-break was a microcosm of the entire match.. The Crimson sophomore took a 5-4 lead, then fell behind and was forced to save two set points. An unforced error by Martire gave Muth the tie-break, 9-7.

Martire broke Muth to open the second set and then held serve for 2-0, but the momentum had already shifted. Cramps and back spasms set in as Martire lost 13 points in a row and the next four games.

Martire broke back at 4-3, but was herself broken yet again, giving Muth the opportunity to serve for the match. Muth went to double match point, but two unforced errors brought the game back to deuce. Martire saved a third match point before pounding a return in to the net to end the match.

“Muth just picked it up and quit making mistakes,” Gordon said. “Alexis was playing well. Her game didn’t drop off, [Muth] just stepped up and put a lot of pressure on Alexis.”