Michelle Gemmell’s match was the closest and longest on the day. The showdown went back and forth until her opponent made some big shots down the stretch to stave off a match ball and snatch away the win.

All eyes then turned to the battle at the No. 7 position. Although Mumanachit found herself up four points in the fourth game, the set eventually evened out. Each player repeatedly failed to close out the set before Sawin finally finished it off and sent the Crimson home.

“We were confident [Sobhy] was going to win, so we knew we needed one other win,” Mendez said. “I was very confident in [Mumanachit]. She’s a super steady player and has been in this situation many times before. We all definitely had faith that she could pull it out, but unfortunately it didn’t go our way.”

Princeton (5-0, 2-0 Ivy) had not defeated Harvard (5-1, 2-1 Ivy) in a head-to-head meeting since 2009.

As expected entering the showdown, the competition was evenly matched between the two squads. Although the Tigers captured the five matches needed to win, three out of the Crimson’s four victories came as shutouts. Harvard won 20 total sets to Princeton’s 16.

“It didn’t go our way today, but we’re going to learn from the squash aspect,” Kingshott said. “We’ll have another crack at [the Tigers]. It’s all about learning through competition.”

—Staff writer David Steinbach can be reached at dsteinbach@college.harvard.edu.