HARVARD 8, COLUMBIA 1

Harvard’s first match of the weekend came against Columbia (6-5, 1-2). The Crimson dropped only one match and four total sets en route to an 8-1 victory over the Lions.

Seven of the nine Harvard players to take the court won their matches without surrendering a single game.

“The match against Columbia wasn’t that hard of a match,” Olson said. “We were expecting to win, and only number one was going to be a really tough match. Ali played really well, beat him, and the rest of the matches were kind of a wash.”

Farag uncharacteristically dropped the first set playing at the No. 1 position against Ramit Tandon, whom Farag defeated last year to capture the CSA Individual National Championship.

But Farag stormed right back, taking the next three sets to secure the victory over his rival.

McLaughlin put forth a dominant performance at No. 2, winning in straight sets and taking the final two by eight-point margins.

Junior Nigel Koh suffered the sole Crimson loss on the day, falling by a score of 3-1 to Mohamed Abdel Maksoud of the Lions.

Each of the next six Harvard players dispatched their opponents in straight sets. The Crimson remained cool under pressure, as nearly half of the set wins came by three points or fewer.

Two of those closer three-game wins came at the No. 4 and No. 5 positions. In the final spot, Power defeated his opponent in straight sets, although the largest margin of victory was only four points.

Mullaney also finished his match in three games, taking down Danial Saleem of the Lions by a score of 12-10, 11-8, 11-8.

—Staff writer David Steinbach can be reached at dsteinbach@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter at @bigbach.