To contain the winningest team in Harvard women’s tennis history, it took the winningest program in NCAA tennis history.

Two-defending national champion Stanford (23-1) brought the Crimson season to an abrupt halt in the NCAA Round of 16 in Gainesville, Fla., yesterday. The No. 17 Crimson (19-4) had hoped for more against the tournament’s No. 1 seed, but the defeat did not take away from the team’s accomplishments this spring.

The third round was as deep as Harvard had ever advanced in NCAAs.

“It sucks that we had to end on a losing note, but we had the greatest season ever. We set a billion Harvard records,” said captain Sanja Bajin. “I’m obviously not happy that we lost, but we gave it our best shot.”

Sophomore Courtney Bergman was among the three Harvard players whose singles matches were left unfinished. She felt even though the final score was 4-0, the Crimson still could have won.

“Everyone who was on the court, I think we would have won our matches,” Bergman said. “All of our matches were close. It’s not like we were blown off the court at all.”

The other two unfinished matches featured sophomore Susanna Lingman at No. 2 and freshman Melissa Anderson at No. 5. Bergman, Lingman and Anderson all lost their first sets but Harvard coach Gordon Graham liked what he saw in the second sets.

“Boy, would I have liked to see those matches played out,” Graham said. “All three of those kids turned their matches around.”

Harvard’s end was hastened by the absence of sophomore Alexis Martire, whose tonsillitis prevented her from making the trip. Freshman Lyly Cao Minh was left to make her team singles debut at No. 6, a trial-by-fire unlike any Graham could recall.

Minh’s 6-1, 6-0 singles defeat gave Stanford its second team point. The No. 3 doubles pairing of Minh and Bajin fell 8-0. The two had several chances to pull out games but could never quite finish.

Martire’s absence at No. 3 singles and No. 2 doubles also forced freshman Eva Wang, Bajin and Anderson into tougher spots in the lineup.

“It definitely would have helped to have Alexis,” Bergman said. “If we had [her], it would have been a different match. Even at that, we definitely could have beaten them today.”

The Harvard missed opportunities began at doubles. At No. 1, Bergman and Lingman took on the nation’s top-ranked pair of Lauren Barnikow and Erin Burdette. The pairs were on serve for most of the match, but the Crimson duo got broken late and could not break back.

At No. 2 doubles, Wang and Anderson led 6-4 but fell behind 7-6 right as play was halted when Stanford clinched the doubles point.

In singles, Bergman at No. 1 and Bajin at No. 4 each went up 2-0 to start their matches, but those leads were short-lived. Harvard lost all six first sets.