The Crimson’s match point came from Whelan at the No. 6 spot. The freshman took down Old Dominion’s Faith Atiso, 6-4, 6-1, to clinch the win.

HARVARD 5, WILLIAM AND MARY 2

After losing to the Tribe, 4-3, on Feb. 26 last year, the Crimson came out strong, winning the doubles point before taking four of six singles matches.

“To play William and Mary, we were ready for a battle,” Norton said. “We knew they were feisty. We got off to a great start by winning the doubles point and that gave us great momentum going into singles. This match really showed our team’s will to win.”

Morril and Whelan defeated their opponents in a close 8-6 bout, while Gridley and Jania handled their foes, 8-1.

Norton and Tachibana dropped their match to the Tribe’s No. 39 Maria Belaya and Jeltje Loomans, 8-3. The two doubles losses by Tachibana and Norton over the weekend were uncharacteristic for the duo.

“I think we just never really got into the match as quickly as we do usually,” Tachibana said. “But the fact that we had this problem before the Ivies is really good because we have two weeks to work on it.”

In singles, Tachibana was the first to defeat her opposition, 6-3, 6-1, at the No. 1 court. Gridley defeated William and Mary’s Hope Johnson, 6-2, 6-1, at the No. 5 spot, while Loomans got the best of Norton at the No. 2 position, 6-3, 6-1.

Harvard’s final wins came from a 6-1, 6-3 contest by Jania and a 3-6, 6-3, 10-4 rally by sophomore Natalie Blosser at the No. 3 and No. 4 spots, respectively.

—Staff writer Taryn I. Kurcz can be reached at tkurcz13@college.harvard.edu.