The doubles point set up Harvard to carry the match.

“Everything had to go in our favor,” Fish said. “Basically we had to get the doubles point against this team because their singles is good enough to take four or five off lots of teams in this country.”

At singles, Harvard earned its first victory from Chu at No. 2 by a 7-5, 6-4 margin. But shortly after Chu’s victory, junior George Turner fell 1-6, 4-6 at No. 5, to make the score 2-1 Harvard.

The attention then shifted to Lingman’s match at No. 1, as he began to slow down his opponent with powerful forehand winners and well-placed volleys. His opponent, No. 60 Pedro Nieto, had won 18 straight matches, including a straight-set victory over the No. 22 player in the nation.

Nieto easily captured the first set 6-1, but Lingman battled back, knowing that his opponent could not keep up the high level of play displayed in the first set for the whole match.

Lingman dominated Nieto for the second set, 6-2, and used that momentum to stake himself a 5-2 lead. Lingman had triple-match point at 5-4, but on his third chance, he began to cramp. He lost most of the movement in his wrist, and after he hit a high volley long, Nieto made a stunning comeback to win the match, 6-1, 2-6, 7-5, evening the overall score at 2-2.

“I still should have still hit that high ball,” Lingman said. “Team tennis is a weird thing. I’m disappointed but I’m still happy.”

Choo’s match also involved a great comeback as he lost the first set, 4-6, but used numerous passing shots to take the second and third sets. Choo was up 4-1 in the third set but had to hold of his unyielding opponent for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory at the No. 6 spot, similar to his dramatic, comeback victory over Brown.

“Fish told us this story before the match, the moral was not giving up and just fighting as hard as you can as long as you’re out here,” Choo said. “I think that helped us a lot.”

Fish had emphasized that losing the first set was not the end of the match. He referred to this as an attitude of excellence and professionalism.

Although up 3-2, the Crimson was unable to celebrate yet because both of the remaining matches could have gone to VCU. Riddell, although victorious in the first set, had lost the second set, 2-6, and trailed in the third set. Nguyen was in an all-out battle at No. 3, as his match was tied at 5-5 in the third set.

At No. 4, Riddell forced his opponent into numerous unforced errors, and won the first set 7-6 (11-9) after his opponent double-faulted and threw his racket in frustration. But Riddell ultimately fell 6-7 (9), 6-2, 6-3, making the overall match score 3-3 and leaving Nguyen in the decisive match.

Nguyen said the he felt in control of his match at all times, despite losing the first set 3-6.

“I felt like if I could keep it up and keep the pressure on this guy he was going to crack sooner or later,” Nguyen said.

The strategy worked as Nguyen was able to capture the second set 6-2. The third set had numerous momentum swings, but Nguyen took the 6-5 lead with his opponent on serve to set up the dramatic finish.