Saturday afternoon, Harvard dropped its first eight matches to Trinity, putting itself at risk of suffering its first 9-0 loss ever. In those eight matches, only No. 8 Gaurav Yadav even captured a game. Yadav was tied 1-1 with Pat Malloy, but fell 9-4, 4-9, 9-3, 9-5.

At No. 1, with the outcome of the match long since decided, Broadbent dropped the first game to Samper, 9-2, and it looked like the Crimson would be unable to avoid the shutout.

But Broadbent, who had lost 3-0 to Samper at the Price-Bullington Invitational in November, gained confidence in his ability to compete with Samper even in falling behind.

“I just wanted to hang with him in the first game,” Broadbent said. “I kind of weathered the storm a little bit.”

Before the second game, Harvard coach Satinder Bajwa reminded Broadbent that Samper would come up with lots of winners, but if Broadbent didn’t get frustrated and stayed in points, he would get opportunities in the front court.

Indeed, Broadbent slowed the game down to jar Samper out of his rhythm and began measuring his lengths.

“Once I started initiating the attack, fortunately I was playing some of my best squash all year, so I was able to keep the ball nice and tight up front—tight to the wall, tight to the tin,” Broadbent said.

“Broadbent was hitting shots that were so tight they were outright winners,” Patterson agreed.

Broadbent also remembered co-captain Thomas Storch’s advice to “play the opponent rather than just playing the ball,” meaning that Broadbent shouldn’t hit a shot—even a good one—if it played to his opponent’s strengths.

Instead, Broadbent began taking advantage of Samper’s backhand by keeping the ball against the backhand wall.

Broadbent’s tactics worked, as he won the next three games 9-3, 9-5, 9-3 to inspire his teammates for Sunday’s match.

Harvard 8, UWO 1

The Crimson opened the weekend by cruising into the semifinals with a routine 8-1 victory over Western Ontario, a team it had handily defeated in an intersession scrimmage.

At No. 7, Storch, who was also named an Academic All-American this weekend, won his match, 9-5, 9-3, 9-6.

“He’s the resident beast of the team,” Yadav said. “He’s just a grinder.”

With Patterson’s win against Yale proving to be the deciding match and Storch’s advice to Broadbent figuring in the freshman’s win over Samper, Harvard’s co-captains demonstrated their leadership yet again in their final match with their squad.

“The degree to which they’ve focused on our team this entire year, the amount of energy and organization they’ve put in as captains, is impressive,” Whitman said.

—Staff writer Alan G. Ginsberg can be reached at aginsber@fas.harvard.edu.