Hosting No. 33 Yale (20-4, 5-1) on Friday, the Harvard squad faced an old rival—its highest-ranked opponent of the season—in a tough battle where not enough seemed to work in the home squad’s favor.

Playing for the doubles point, the Crimson started off successfully in the No. 1 match, where Tachibana and Norton breezed past their opposition, 8-2.

But success was much harder to find for the other pairs. Harvard fell at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, 8-6 and 8-4, respectively, conceding the point to the visiting Bulldogs.

“When it came to the crucial moments I think they stepped up to the plate,” Cao said. “The games were close, but they capitalized on the big moments.”

The singles matches told a similar story.

Despite Cao’s impressive performance in the top match, good enough for a pair of 6-3 finishes and the Crimson’s sole singles point, the rest of the roster couldn’t match up to their Yale counterparts.

Gridley was overwhelmed by a score of 6-4, 6-4, at the No. 6 spot, and Norton was dismantled by her opponent on the No. 3 court, 6-2, 6-0.

Harvard managed to fight a little closer in the day’s other matchups, coming up short by narrow margins.

After losing the first set, 6-3, Morrill came back to win the second by a score of 6-1 to force a third set in the No. 5 match. The third proved just too much though, and she fell, 6-2, to drop the point for the team.

Blosser experienced a similar fate at No. 4, down in the first, 6-3, and then rebounding to win, 6-4, in the second. But, like for Morrill, the third set seemed one too many for Blosser, and a 10-4 loss to junior Stephanie Kent added to the Crimson’s deficit.

The No. 2 matchup ultimately sealed the deal for the day, and Tachibana fell, 6-2, 7-6, with Harvard losing overall to the Bulldogs, 6-1.

“I felt like we left all we had on the court in those close doubles matches,” Green said. “But in the singles, Yale just outplayed us.”