In singles, however, the Bulldogs are strong: whereas Harvard’s top two of Denis Nguyen and sophomore Shaun Chaudhuri lost to the Alabama’s top two, Samford’s Dunkle and Elliot Barnwell took them down.

The team has a winning record at each of the six singles spots. Bulldog freshman Fares Kilani is 18-6 at third singles, including an 8-0 April run that earned him the Southern Conference player of the month, and Austin Akers is 14-8 on the fifth court on the year.

But the Crimson, too, can compete in singles. Singles specialist Chaudhuri went 6-1 in league play at No. 2, which earned him first-team All-Ivy honors. Denis Nguyen also won first-team accolades.

Harvard featured two more players on the second team: sophomore Alex Steinroeder, who went 15-8 in dual play, and Andy Nguyen, who had a dominant season, going 16-4 in dual play.

The Crimson has its sights set on a trip to the University of Illinois, but it must win two matches down south first, starting with the Bulldogs on Friday.

“Making it to the round of 16 would be great,” Chaudhuri said. “That’s a special tournament with a lot of history, and it’s one of our goals to qualify for it. We’re close, but we have to go through a couple of good teams before we get there.”

If Harvard pulls off the opening-round victory, it will be slated to play again on Saturday, taking on the winner of the match between Mississippi State and Austin Peay.

“We’re trying not to look too far forward, and will just play our game,” Chaudhuri said. “This is a fun part of the season. We’ve been working hard all year and hope it pays off, but to be honest, we just want to go out there and have some fun.”

—Staff writer Justin C. Wong can be reached at justinwong@college.harvard.edu.