private VariantContext findMatchingComp(
      final VariantContext eval, final Collection<VariantContext> comps) {
    // if no comps, return null
    if (comps == null || comps.isEmpty()) return null;

    // if no eval, return any comp
    if (eval == null) return comps.iterator().next();

    // find all of the matching comps
    VariantContext lenientMatch = null;
    for (final VariantContext comp : comps) {
      switch (doEvalAndCompMatch(comp, eval, requireStrictAlleleMatch)) {
        case STRICT:
          return comp;
        case LENIENT:
          if (lenientMatch == null) lenientMatch = comp;
          break;
        case NO_MATCH:;
      }
    }

    // nothing matched, just return lenientMatch, which might be null
    return lenientMatch;
  }