Throughout the tournament, Li started slowly, but improved as he got deeper into matches. Li also admitted that he got a few lucky bounces that helped his confidence.

Li teamed with fellow rookie Gideon Valkin to march into the finals of the doubles draw. Li and Valkin ultimately lost to the top-seeded pair of Jamie Cerretani and Shamasdin of Brown 8-0, but showed tremendous potential in upsetting their fifth-seeded teammates, senior Chris Chiou and freshman Shantanu Dhaka, and third-seeded Nick Goldberg and Zack Pasanen from Brown. While Li and Valkin made several unforced errors in the uneven final, they produced a number of strong volleys and winners.

“This was a great opportunity to learn that there is no such thing as being humiliated when you make it to the finals of a competitive tournament,” Fish said.

Several players had praise for the freshman class, which adds depth to a team expecting to lose several seniors after this season.

“The freshman are on a steep learning curve, but they are doing a good job,” Riddell said.

Chiou won the second-round consolation final over Pasanen, 6-0, 6-2. Chiou’s aggressive approaches and volleys proved to be too much for all of his opponents, as he was dominant throughout the consolation tournament.

On Saturday, sophomore Caleb Gardner prevailed 6-3, 6-3 in the “B” flight singles final over Tufts’ Rifat Perahya.

According to Fish, the tournament was a productive warm-up event, allowing many players in his deep lineup to experience pressure situations.

Harvard will be in action this weekend in tournaments at Virginia and Brown.