Sophomore Shantanu Dhaka blanked his opponent in the first set, 6-0, but fell in the second 7-5. Dhaka finished strong in a marathon third set, winning 10-8.

Harvard fell at No. 5 and 6 singles, with sophomore Gideon Valkin falling in the former 6-2, 7-6, and freshman Dan Nguyen dropping straight sets 6-2, 6-3.

With the performance, the Crimson capitalized on home-turf advantage.

“We don’t have very many home matches, so we have to make the best with what we have,” Chiu said.

The team has its work cut out for it for the spring season.

“We’ll be happy to start off with a win, and we did, so we’re really looking forward to next weekend,” Chu said.

Yesterday’s contest was the first of a three-match homestand, with competition against Clemson and Louisville to follow next weekend.

The matches are the team’s last chance to tune up before the USTA/ITA Indoor National Championships, which will be held a week later.

“Every match that we play is another building block,” Chu said.

—Staff writer Samuel C. Scott can be reached at sscott@fas.harvard.edu.