“We hung in there really well in a lot of the matches, but again a few points here and there decided the outcome,” Tao said.

On the singles side, Harvard failed to earn a point against Northwestern. Tao was defeated by Kirchheimer, the No. 26 collegiate singles player in the nation, at first singles 6-3, 6-3. Although Yeung took the second set against Shropshire at second doubles, the game went unfinished.

“They were a bit sharper than us up and down the lineup Saturday,” Thirouin said. “Everyone fought really hard which showed in the second sets. I think a few more matches and we'd be ready to give them an even more competitive match.”

Thirouin fell to Zieba, 6-1, 6-4, at third singles, and both Zhou and Solomon did not finish their matches at fourth and fifth singles, respectively.

Beren fell to Broncos sophomore Jason Seidman to close out the ladder, giving Seidman his sixth consecutive win.

“While we were close in so many of the matches, I think we all were a little nervous and overly excited to play them,” Tao said.

—Staff writer Jamie Chen can be reached at jamie.chen@thecrimson.com.