“Santa Barbara was probably our worst team match,” Chu agreed, “but we still beat them.”

Indeed, the squad began by corralling the doubles point from the Gauchos (9-6, 4-0 Big West), compliments of Nguyen and Chiou, 9-7, and Riddell and Chiu, 8-6.

Nguyen’s back injury forced him to sit out the singles play, though, and so Chiou took over his fourth spot, losing 6-4, 6-3.

Riddell also fell 7-6, 6-1.

Chiou’s move meant that freshman Gideon Valkin, in just his second dual match, now manned the sixth spot. Valkin won 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Harvard had already clinched victory, though. Lingman won 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, Chu 6-2, 6-4, and Li 6-4, 6-1.

And despite the team’s self-described “sluggish play,” the Crimson staved off a West Coast sweep.

Next on the docket for Harvard is the Ivy League season, as the squad will spend the rest of April battling its Ivy foes—the highest of which, Brown, only just cracked the Top 40.

If the Crimson looks to compete effectively in the NCAA tournament, its own division is the place to begin.

But will the team recover from its disappointing spring break?

“I don’t think we’re worried,” Nguyen said. “We learned a lot of good lessons over the spring break.

“These teams are way better than the Ivy teams” he added of the break’s competition, “so we’ll just work on our game.”