HARVARD 4, YALE 2

On Friday, in its first round matchup, the 47th-ranked Crimson took down the archrival Bulldogs, 4-2.

For the second straight year in the tournament, Harvard was too much to handle for eighth-seeded Yale, starting in doubles, where Hu and Andy Nguyen scored an 8-5 win on the second court.

Chaudhuri and Steinroeder followed with an 8-5 win of their own to give Harvard the doubles point. Next, in singles, MacMaster beat the Bulldogs’ Zachary Dean, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 6, and Hu staked Harvard to a 3-0 lead with his 6-4, 6-4 win.

Yale would come back from the deficit by winning two singles matches, winning three-setters over Chaudhuri and Steinroeder to make the match 3-2.

But Andy Nguyen, playing on the No. 4 court, finished the match off for Harvard. Nguyen outlasted Bulldog freshman Jason Brown, 10-8, in the third-set tiebreaker for a 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (8) victory that gave the Crimson the 4-2 final margin.

“The tournament was the first time we faced Ivy League opponents,” Chaudhuri said. “I feel like seeing our competition this weekend is helpful because we now know what we need to work on and improve on to be ready for the actual league season.”

The ECAC Championships showed the team the physical and mental toughness necessary as it moves forward toward Ancient Eight matches.

“We had to reset emotionally [after the Cornell match], and we learned a lot about handling pressure,” Fish said. “Unless you go through it, you won’t be ready for the Ivy League season.”

—Staff writer Justin C. Wong can be reached at justinwong@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @justincwong94.