Northwestern faced off against the Harvard men’s tennis team yesterday afternoon fresh from a victory over No. 18 North Carolina, but the Wildcats (4-2) quickly found themselves troubled by the doubles.

In its home opener, the Crimson (1-0) swept doubles play and went on to win the top four singles matches, besting Northwestern 5-2.

“We didn’t really let them get a chance to get into the match,” captain Jonathan Chu said. “We were well prepared, and it shows.”

Harvard entered the match with a psychological advantage over Northwestern, boating both home court advantage as well as season opening energy. The enthusiasm of the first home match helped the Crimson realize a goal set in the preseason of kicking off matches energetically.  

“All of our guys jumped off the bat in the beginning,” junior Brandon Chiu said. “It didn’t look like a typical first match of the season.”

Chu and freshman Ashwin Kumar paired up at No. 1 doubles, taking the match 9-8 after winning the tiebreak 8-6.

“We brought a lot more energy to it,” Chiu said. “That was a deciding difference, particularly in [Nos.] 2 and 3 doubles.”

Senior Martin Wetzel and senior Jason Beren won their set at No. 2 doubles by an 8-4 margin. At No. 3 doubles, senior Jordan Bohnen and Chiu posted an 8-5 victory to wrap up doubles play for Harvard.

The team focused attention on doubles play for the season, and an intersession trip to Florida gave the team time to work on its play and work out its matchups.

“We spent a lot of time in the offseason trying to come up with combinations,” Chu said. “We were very, very prepared, and we emphasized having a lot of energy.”

The strength of doubles play fed a contagious enthusiasm that infected subsequent singles matches.

“Energy was high in doubles, and in singles, we just wanted to take advantage of having the doubles behind us,” he said.

The Crimson rolled through singles play, capturing the top four spots.

Wetzel won his match in 6-1, 6-4 sets, and Chu won at No. 2 singles, 6-4, 6-4.

Kumar dominated his opponent in the first set, 6-1, but the second set would be tighter, although Kumar won, 7-6.