So this time, the singles title did not go to a Harvard player. The squad had a good chance at the doubles draw, though, as the Crimson had its fair share of names entered.

Gardner and Denenberg joined forces, as did Dhaka and Tedaldi. Most notable, though, was the pairing of junior Jonathan Chu and former Crimson captain William Lee ’02.

Chu normally plays the second singles and first doubles matches, but he chose to join the weekend’s action rather than rest.

“Jonathan loves to play,” Parrish said of Chu, who was the only regular singles player to enter the tournament.

Indeed, Chu and Lee made a run at the title, winning their 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 semifinal on Sunday. However, the duo was forced to withdraw before the finals, as Lee had to return to a prior commitment in New York.

Chu, who had celebrated his 21st birthday the previous night, laughed when explaining the pair’s first set loss in the semifinals.

“I had a late night last night. I turned 21, so we were a little dazed in the beginning. But as the match went on, we managed to come back to this planet,” he said with a grin. “I just wanted to have fun [in the tournament], and we did have fun.”

Not only did team members say the weekend was fun, but they said that it proved useful to the whole team. Some enjoyed well-deserved time off, while others garnered valuable experience.

Senior Chris Chiou, though he did not play because of his impending MCAT examination, was in attendance to root on his younger teammates, a Kaplan prep book resting in his lap all the while.

And Chu approached the weekend in similar fashion, brushing off a question as to why he was not resting for the team’s upcoming spring trip.

“This is the future of our team playing [in] this tournament,” he explained, motioning to a match progressing behind him, “so I’m going to be out here with them in the trenches.”