“Jon pulled out a really tough match at No. 2,” Lingman said. “We didn’t anticipate that it would be that close, but Princeton came out and played as good a match as I think they could have played.”

Meanwhile, Turner was staging a battle of his own on the other end of the building, taking a break point in the second set. Just a few moments after Chu finished off Craton—and well over three hours after the match had started—Turner sealed the Crimson win with a 7-5, 6-4 victory.

“The teams that can escape those close matches are going to end up winning,” Lingman said.

Princeton had jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with wins at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles. Harvard struck back quickly with straight set wins by Lingman in the first slot and Nguyen in the fourth.

But the Crimson found itself down a set in three of the remaining four matches, and the Tigers won at No. 3 and No. 6 to go up 3-2, setting up a dramatic finish.

“We have a lot to work on this week, but we’re feeling pretty good going into these last two team matches,” Choo said. “We’re working on trying to block out distractions, whether it’s the crowd or the other team, and just focusing on playing our games.”

Since Brown has more wins than the Crimson with its 6-0 Ivy record, Harvard needs to stay focused on defeating Yale first as it enters the final week of the regular season. Even with a perfect league record, the Crimson sees room for improvement in its play.

“The team’s excited that we’re still undefeated, but we still haven’t played as clean a match as we would like,” Lingman said. “You see more and more that the teams that win are able to stay together and support each other even though the sport is so individual. Building some sort of chemistry is the most important thing, and I think we’re starting to get it.”

—Staff writer Brenda E. Lee can be reached at belee@fas.harvard.edu.