Also unfinished were the matches of Lingman—suspended at 6-0, 2-3—and Riddell—suspended at 6-2, 3-1.

And so the Crimson defeated Quinnipiac easily, just as many expected the team to do. But with Harvard looking forward to the next day’s showdown with Tulane, a 4-0 drubbing might not have been ideal.

“I think Tulane and Notre Dame probably had a better experience today in [terms of] preparing for tomorrow’s match, because they fought a much closer contest,” explained Crimson associate coach Peter Mandeau.

The Notre Dame-Tulane match was certainly much closer, though the bout also ended with a 4-0 score.

The Green Wave (19-4, 6-0 Conference USA) took the doubles point as well as the first two singles matches, but the Fighting Irish (15-9, 3-2 Big East) refused to go quietly. The team pushed two singles matches to a third set and led both, while another was on pace for a third set as well.

Had Notre Dame held on in all three, the overall dual match score would have been knotted at 3-3.

However, the squad never got the chance, as Tulane’s Jacobo Hernandez held on—after a brief display of nerves—for a 6-4, 6-4 win and an overall Green Wave victory.

But would the hard-earned 4-0 victory give Tulane an edge?

“Sometimes it’s difficult to play an easier or less tough opponent and then go to play a really tough opponent the next day,” Mandeau admitted after the Quinnipiac match, “so it will be interesting how we come out tomorrow.”

But there wasn’t anything the Crimson could—or should—have done differently against the Bobcats. Harvard looked watertight, the strokes quick and clean, the energy directed and the potential there.

“We were just playing how we wanted to play,” Chiu explained. “Just [reinforcing] good habits, doing the right things.”

The victory advanced Harvard into the second round yesterday. The Crimson topped Tulane 4-2 to advance to the Sweet 16.

—Staff writer Rebecca A. Seesel can be reached at seesel@fas.harvard.edu.