Game of the Year Runner-Up: Illinois 4, M. Tennis 3

It was a hell of a way to go out. No, the No. 21 Harvard men’s tennis team didn’t beat No. 1 Illinois—or advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament—or give the Crimson’s five seniors the farewells they’d have wanted. But still, it was a hell of a way to go out.

Obvious favorites in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tourament, the Fighting Illini had not lost in 62 matches and had dropped just one dual match point in the last seven contests.

But, Harvard coach Dave Fish ’72 had said before the match, “The important thing for us always to remember is that we’re not playing a program, we’re playing individual players.

“And the individual players have fights with their girlfriends, they get bad nights’ sleep, they get food poisoning just like all of us do. And so to go in with any pre-judgment about what’s going to happen is kind of silly.”

The Crimson fought from the beginning but still lost the doubles point with two 8-6 defeats.

1-0. Illinois was on its way.

And then, in what Fish called “a career match,” senior Chris Choiu—who had not played in the first two NCAA rounds—won his match 7-5, 6-2.

It was all even at 1-1. Harvard had still dropped four of six initial singles sets.

But as the hours drifted by, neither team ran away with the contest. Crimson senior Mark Riddell lost, but junior Jonathan Chu won. Co-captain David Lingman lost, but junior Martin Wetzel won.

And surely to the surprise of all in attendance in Tulsa, Okla., the score was eventually knotted at 3-3.

The entire day’s contest now depended solely on the match of Cliff Nguyen, the other Harvard co-captain.

He dropped the first frame but managed a tiebreak win in the second. It all boiled down, then, to a mere third set of tennis—it was dead even.

Nguyen fell behind early and could not make up the ground. He dropped the third set, and Harvard dropped the match.

But it is one of the few losses that can be remembered proudly.

Despite the media scrutiny surrounding Illinois and the peanut-gallery curiosity directed at Harvard, the Crimson still managed to push the best team in the nation to the brink.

“It would have been a Cinderella story to win,” Fish admitted, “but to me, the unbelievable story was getting to the third set of the last match.”

—Staff writer Rebecca A. Seesel can be reached at seesel@fas.harvard.edu.