Heading to the ECAC Championships in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., the two-time defending champion Harvard men’s tennis team had much to ponder. The departure of last year’s glut of senior talent had left the Crimson inexperienced and, in recent weeks, seemingly uninspired.

But now, after winning three straight matches to advance to today’s finals, the squad has something to smile about.

Top-seeded Harvard secured its finals berth with wins over St. Joseph’s, Pennsylvania and Princeton, and the Crimson will face third-seeded Penn State this morning for a third straight ECAC crown.

“We really hung together,” said Crimson coach Dave Fish ’72, “and we need that from our guys, because we’re a less experienced team than last year’s, but we’ve got the talent.”

HARVARD 6, PRINCETON 1

“The match was closer than the score would indicate,” assistant coach Terry London offered after the completion of yesterday’s match. “It was tough.”

The doubles competition was tight, but Harvard clinched with two matches to Princeton’s one.

Though the third duo of Gideon Valkin and Shantanu Dhaka lost 8-6, the sophomores fought back from three breaks down—a 6-1 deficit—before falling.

“They were just getting pummeled,” Fish said, “but they fought back, and that put the pressure on [the Tigers’] No. 2 [doubles] team, so I thought they did a good job.”

That pressure proved enough to help the Crimson secure the doubles point, and with that, as is so often the case, came the momentum.

Harvard took all but one of the singles matches, and that, Valkin’s, was a three-set loss ending with a 10-8 tiebreak.

“[Valkin] competed very well,” London said. “It came down to a couple points in the end, and it could have gone either way. Actually, it was a positive thing, because they were both competing so well, and you can’t [get that] in practice.”

HARVARD 6, PENN 1

The Crimson was sharp in doubles competition on Saturday, winning 8-2, 8-3 and 8-4 from the first match to the third.

“We’re still experimenting with our doubles combinations so far,” said captain Jonathan Chu, “just because we have so many new faces this year, but so far so good.”