It wasn’t the way the Harvard men’s tennis team wanted it to end, though it almost was. And it wasn’t the farewell the squad wanted to give its five seniors, though it almost was. And it wasn’t the grandest upset the Crimson had ever pulled off—but it almost was.

The No. 21 Crimson (19-7, 7-0 Ivy) bowed out of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday with a 4-3 loss to No. 1 and defending national champion Illinois, a defeat which could just as easily have gone to the Fighting Illini—and perhaps that was an surprise in itself.

Illinois (31-0, 13-0 Big Ten) had not lost in more than two years—62 matches entering Saturday’s contest—but Harvard stretched the Orange and Blue to the limit, pushing the final match to a final set.

“It was just unbelievable,” said Harvard coach Dave Fish ’72. “I couldn’t be more proud of these guys. They take the number one team in the country to the third set of the last match. It would have been a Cinderella story to win, but to me, the unbelievable story was getting to the third set of the last match.”

That last match was a battle between Crimson co-captain Cliff Nguyen and Illinois’ Michael Calkins.

Nguyen had dropped the first set 6-3 and was down a break in the second, but he managed to force a tiebreak and took the second frame 7-6 (4).

With this comeback, the entire day’s contest began afresh. The overall score was knotted at 3-3, Nguyen’s at 1-1.

And so the co-captain’s third and final set would not only decide his match—it would decide what could be one of the greatest upsets in Harvard history.

But though Nguyen’s valiant fight gave his team the chance, the senior fell behind 3-0 in the final frame, and he could not make up the ground, falling 6-2 in his final match with the Crimson squad.

“[Calkins] is just a great player,” Fish said after the match, “and probably 10 out of 10 times, he’s a better player than Cliffy. But Cliffy did everything to beat him.”

Fish’s statement could have applied to his entire team, a squad which carried a 16-seed to Illinois’ top-seed. Harvard simply would not give in.

The squad dropped the doubles point with two 8-6 losses—one, that of sophomore Brandon Chiu and junior Jonathan Chu, against an Illini pair ranked No. 5 in the country. Then, in the singles competition, the Crimson promptly lost four of the six first sets.

“When we dropped those first sets,” said Chu, “it could have been a streamroller, but we refused to let it be.”

Senior Chris Chiou scored a quick 7-5, 6-2 victory, one which Fish called “a career match,” and the score was evened at 1-1.

The contest progressed to an even 2-2 when Crimson senior Mark Riddell lost 6-4, 7-5 but Chu won 7-6 (1), 6-3.