“The freshmen got a good idea of how college tennis is compared to juniors tennis,” Yeung said. “College tennis is definitely mentally tougher, so they got good experience in.”

Harvard split its doubles matches with a 4-4 record. Yeung and Peters suffered a close 7-5 loss to Notre Dame before coming back to beat their Illinois opponents 6-3. The duo of Beltrame and Thirouin were similarly edged out by their Notre Dame opponents in a close tiebreaker, but came back with a handy 6-2 win against Illinois.

The teams of Beren with Zhou and junior Kenny Tao with Weber earned both earned 6-3 wins against Notre Dame.

FRIDAY

The Crimson began the tournament with a rocky start in doubles, going 1-3. The duo of Yeung and Peters took home the only win for Harvard in a close 7-5 victory over their Illinois opponents.

On the singles side, the Crimson logged 5-5. The matches were closer than the score suggests, with multiple three-set face-offs. Beltrame suffered a close three-set loss while Yeung came back from a loss in his second set to shut out his opponent 6-0 in the third set.

Thirouin struggled to come back after winning the first set and giving up the second set, ultimately losing to his Texas A&M opponent 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. Tao came back from a 2-6 loss in the first set to sweep the next two sets and claim a win for Harvard. Lee and Weber both earned victories, while Beren and junior Xavier Gonzalez fell to their Notre Dame opponents.

Despite multiple injured players on the team, the Chowder Fest marked a decent start to Harvard’s fall season.

“It was a good opportunity for the entire team to get used to what it’s like coming back from summer break,” Zhou said. “I feel like up and down the board we played really well. I think that once we have all our guys up and running we’ll be able to do some good damage this year.”

–Staff writer Jamie Chen can be reached at jamiechen@college.harvard.edu.