They came, they saw, but they did not conquer the Harvard men’s tennis team. That was the case for Alabama or Notre Dame at the Harvard Fall Classic Tournament this weekend, where the young Crimson squad held its own against some tough competition.

“It was a really good weekend for us,” captain Michael Hayes said.

For Harvard and for its opponents, the weekend was about testing themselves.

“Going into it, we knew that the three teams were all top-notch,” junior Aba Omodele-Lucien said. “We were looking at it as an opportunity to improve our games against really tough opponents. We were really looking forward to this weekend, and that attitude really helped.”

“Every guy on our lineup has been improving,” Harvard coach Dave Fish said. “That’s been a pleasant surprise. We have some very good depth, eight-plus solid players [and] some guys after that who are right on their heels.”

The improvement is especially encouraging considering the youth of the team, with Hayes being the only senior.

“It’s interesting,” Hayes said of being the lone senior. “It’s a lot of responsibility. But the freshmen we’ve got are great. They’re a very easy group of freshmen to work with. They bring a lot of energy.”

Freshman Andy Nguyen, in particular, has been impressing this fall and went 3-0 for the weekend.

Nguyen was named the Corey Winn Freshman Player to Watch at the tournament.

Omodele-Lucien played doubles with the freshman this weekend and got to observe his abilities first-hand. For the junior, the experience was one of déja vu, as Nguyen’s brother Dan ’08 was Omodele-Lucien’s doubles partner in his freshman year.

“Extremely talented,” Omodele-Lucien said of the younger Nguyen. “He has a lot of potential. He strikes the ball extremely well. He’s very level-headed, which is one of the hardest things to master. He’s got all the tools, and he’s very athletic, and if he stays focused, he’ll do a lot for the team and for himself.”

Omodele-Lucien was the other star of the weekend, going 2-1 at the number one singles spot for the tournament.

“He beat some ranked players, which is a big deal,” Hayes said.

“That was a really strong performance,” Fish added. “This is really the best sustained play we’ve seen from him.”

“I’m just trying to get better and better,” Omodele-Lucien said. “I’m motivated for my team and for myself, and I think they’re interrelated. And what’s more important, I’m being efficient and practicing the correct things.”