Sometimes, the best damage is done in the consolation rounds. Just ask the Harvard men’s tennis team.

After an opening round loss to No. 3 Florida dropped No. 31 Harvard into the consolation rounds at the USTA/ITA National Men’s Team Indoor Championships in Seattle, Wash. on Thursday, the Crimson made waves in the loser’s bracket on Friday, decisively upsetting the No. 10 University of Kentucky 4-1.

Harvard’s good fortune, however, didn’t last. In a back-and-forth battle that began Saturday night and lasted until approximately 1:35 a.m. PST, the Crimson fell 4-2 to the host No. 11 Washington Huskies during the wee hours of Sunday morning.

The USTA/ITA Championships was the first major men’s team tennis tournament of 2004.

No. 11 Washington 4, No. 31 Harvard 2

Harvard players didn’t get much sleep Saturday night in Seattle, as they jumped to an early lead but lost after a fatiguing, three-hour battle against the Huskies.

Down one game in the doubles point, Harvard senior Mark Riddell and sophomore Brandon Chiu—playing at No. 2—knotted doubles at one game apiece after defeating Washington’s Christoph Palmanshofer and Peter Scharler, 8-6. Harvard co-captain David Lingman and junior Jonathan Chu, ranked No. 32 in the country, took on highly-rated Husky pair No. 11 Alex Slovic and Alex Vlaski with the final doubles match—and the first point—on the line.

Lingman and Chu were down 4-6 in the match before rallying to force an 8-8 tiebreaker against the Washington team. In the tiebreaker, Lingman and Chu made quick work of Slovic and Vlaski—both of whom are ranked in the top 100 in the nation individually—7-3. Vlaski is ranked No. 2 nationwide.

Lingman complimented the Washington pair and accredited his own team’s success to good chemistry.

“I think we’ve come to know each other’s games,” said Lingman of his relationship with Chu. “I think by playing together over the last year, we’ve gotten a lot better.”

Lingman and Chu also performed well receiving, breaking several points on the way to victory.

“At 6-7, we broke them,” Lingman said. “We were trying to break until then. That’s what you do in doubles, you work hard and wait for an opportunity.”

Leading the Huskies 1-0 after the doubles round, Harvard had the early momentum. But Washington stole it back, boosted by a boisterous home crowd.

Both freshman Jack Li, who had keyed Harvard’s victory over Kentucky the day before, and Chu, fresh off doubles success, lost in straight sets to Washington’s Scott Felsenthal and Slovic, respectively.

Riddell tied the match at 2-2 after defeating Palmanshofer, 6-0, 7-6. That was Harvard’s last score of the tournament. Scharler defeated Harvard senior Chris Chiou, 7-6, 7-5, to take a 3-2 lead and Washington’s Daniel Chu delivered the decisive blow moments later, defeating Harvard co-captain No. 78 Cliff Nguyen, 7-6 (5), 6-4.