Alabama was less welcoming than Lynyrd Skynyrd advertised for the men’s tennis team, which came away from the Blue-Gray Classic in Montgomery with a 1-2 record.

Harvard (8-6) fell to eventual tournament winner No. 16 Texas Tech (16-1) in the first round, steamrolled Penn State (12-3) in the second, and yielded in the final round to Boise State (7-6).

While the record was unappealing, the team felt it faced difficult competition and was pleased with its play.

“I’m really happy. I feel everybody fought hard,” junior Alexei Chijoff-Evans said. “The energy was great, and we gave a good performance.”

BOISE STATE 4, HARVARD 3

In Harvard’s final match of the tournament, the Crimson fell in a close battle to No. 71 Boise State.

Harvard started off on the right foot, taking the doubles point by winning two of the three doubles matches. Junior Aba Omodele-Lucien and freshman Christo Schultz shut out their opposition at the top spot, and Chijoff-Evans and rookie Joshua Tchan added an 8-3 victory in the No. 3 match. The sophomore-freshman pairing of Alistair Felton and Andy Nguyen dropped the No. 2 match, 8-5.

The Crimson’s success did not last in the singles though, as Harvard was able to capture only two of the six matches. No. 4 Felton squeezed out a 6-4, 7-6 win, while Omodele-Lucien, Nguyen, and Tchan lost in straight sets.

Nguyen, still suffering from an injury sustained in the first match, elected to play rather than force the rest of his lineup to change.

No. 6 Schultz came back from a 5-2 deficit in the second set to force a tiebreaker and win, leaving Chijoff-Evans at the No. 1 spot with the deciding match against a talented opponent in James Meredith

“[The Boise State] No. 1 was as fine a player in the tournament as there was,” said Crimson coach Dave Fish ’72. “Just a beautiful athlete. Alexei played a great match.”

Chijoff-Evans fell in the third set, leaving his final score 6-2, 6-7, 6-1.

“[Meredith] was an absolutely incredible defensive player,” Chijoff-Evans said. “I’ve never played anybody like that.”

HARVARD 4, PENN STATE 0

In the first match of the consolation bracket, Harvard posted an impressive shutout of No. 44 Penn State to hand the Nittany Lions their third loss of the season.