No. 38 Lingman’s match against No. 2 Vlaski was suspended after the clincher.

“I thought we had a good chance to beat Washington,” Lingman said. “We started off getting breaks on four of the first six. But sometimes matches turn.”

No. 31 Harvard 4, No. 10 Kentucky 1

The Crimson steamed out of the gate against the Wildcats on Friday, blistering the nation’s 10th-ranked team up and down the lineup on the way to a 4-1 win.

Thankfully for Kentucky, the score was not as bad as it could have been. Both Riddell and Chiou were on the verge of upsetting individually nationally-ranked Wildcats when No. 78 Cliff Nguyen delivered the deciding blow against Kentucky’s Rahim Esmail, suspending the two matches.

Overall, Harvard won five matches on the day and lost only one point, when No. 38 Lingman was defeated at number one by Kentucky’s No. 16 Jesse Witten. The Crimson also lost one doubles match, but that was inconsequential.

Lingman and Chu set the tone for the day by defeating Witten and Esmail in the first doubles match, 8-5. After Riddell and Chiu lost at number two, Harvard’s Li and Chiou keyed a victory over Kentucky’s Evan Austin and Alex Hume, taking the first point of the day.

After Witten defeated Lingman in singles to tie the score at one, Chu claimed the lead for Harvard by decisively upsetting No. 81 Austin, 6-3, 6-1. Li, playing for Harvard at No. 6, put the pressure on Kentucky by winning his match against Hume, 6-4, 6-1.

Up 3-1, a victory by No. 78 Nguyen would complete the Harvard upset. But after he lost the first set, 1-6, Nguyen’s chances looked bleak. The junior looked one court over for inspiration.

“I was right next to Chris [Chiou],” Nguyen said. “He started to come back in his game, and I started to come back in mine. I think we fed off each other as we were coming back.”

Nguyen finished his last two sets in near dominant fashion, defeating Esmail, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. The victory clinched Harvard’s upset win over the Wildcats, the Crimson’s first team victory of the year.

Nguyen said the Crimson’s team play over the last two days of the tournament was much improved after the loss to Florida.

“We came out kind of flat against Florida,” he said. “But we brought out a lot of energy against Kentucky. We were all pumped for it.”

Lingman said the team’s showing at the tournament was a “great start to the season,” displaying some cautious optimism about the coming spring.

—Staff writer Alex McPhillips can be reached at rmcphill@fas.harvard.edu.