“I think it’s always really tough to come out of exams at Harvard,” he explained, adding that the tests often leave students “ground down to their knees.”

“[After] two weeks of really intense, hard mental labor,” Fish said, “[if] your team can muster 80 percent of [its] mental and physical resources during this time, that’s a victory. [Harvard] is a grind. They all put in their time, and they try to keep their hand in while they’re doing what they came here for.”

Spoken by one who lived it.

And Fish’s lack of concern proved fair—the Crimson would go on to open its spring season by winning five of the first six doubles points.

Lingman indicated that the coach made decisions with that same sagacity throughout the season, pointing specifically to a lineup Fish kept relatively stable despite an excess of talent with which to fill it.

The consistency kept the players confident during the more challenging stretches, the co-captain explained.

But most of all, this year seemed fun. The players were smiling, and so was Fish.

After a tight 4-3 win at Minnesota early in the season, Fish praised his team.

“It was very representative of the kind of character we have on the team this year,” he said. “You can’t win matches like that without people who are all interested in working in the same direction.”

And they couldn’t have all worked in the same direction without somebody at the helm, guiding them along the way.

“He brought out the best in us this year,” Chu said, “and I hope that we brought out the best in him.”

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