Harvard’s success now depended on the singles competition, but the squad came up just shy of victory.

Chu took his match in straight sets 7-5, 6-4, and Riddell won 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

In addition, Nguyen showed tremendous heart as he battled through a back strain which had sidelined him the day before—and which still hurt.

Lingman lost 6-3, 6-4, though, and while freshman Jack Li managed to push his match to a third set, he ultimately fell 7-6, 3-6, 6-4.

“Jack played the best tennis he’s played this year,” Fish said after the loss. “He got in a position to win.”

In the end, it was Chiou’s heartbreaking 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 loss to Alexis Rafidison which sealed a Waves win.

“They played really high-quality tennis,” Nguyen said. “[Rafidison] played unbelievably.

“Chris played really well,” he added. “Chris didn’t lose it—it was like the other guy just won it.”

Indeed, Chiou had held a 5-2 advantage in the third set.

But, said Fish, “the guy he played was a real—and I’m using this in a complimentary term—the guy was a real pro. He really, really played well under pressure.”

HARVARD 5, UC SANTA BARBARA 2

This, the only match the Crimson won in the California sunshine, was perhaps the weakest of the four the team played over spring break.

“We won that one,” Nguyen admitted, “but our energy wasn’t that great. We just seemed a little sluggish that day.

“We were just a better team, though.”

After all, you take what you can get.