No. 11 W. Tennis Downs BU, Temple

Boston University senior Elena deMendoza looked flustered. The match was only 15 minutes old, but she was already losing a grip on the contest. Her adversary looked unflappable, dropping shot after shot with mechanical precision. Resolute, deMendoza pressed on, only to be denied again and again.

In dominating fashion, the Harvard women’s tennis team defeated the Terriers (3-1) 5-2 Saturday afternoon at the Murr Center.

Led by Susanna Lingman, whose 6-0, 6-0 straight-set victory over deMendoza set the tone for the singles competition, the No. 11 Crimson snapped a three-game losing skid, improving to 3-4.

Especially impressive in the victory was freshman Preethi Mukundan, who struggled early in her first set at No. 4 singles after pulling a muscle before her match.

Trailing 4-1, she went on a tear and conceded only one more game in a 7-5, 6-0 victory.

“I pulled my abs,” Mukundan said. “Normally my serve is a huge weapon. I depend on that a lot, so I had to adjust my game and mix it up a little bit.”

Demonstrating similar resilience, teammate Ashley Hyotte made her No. 5 singles match a competitive contest after stumbling early and dropping the first set, 6-1. After taking the second 6-4, Hyotte was defeated in a tiebreak.

Overcoming adversity was a common theme as all six Harvard players played well in the win.

The Crimson won the doubles point by scoring victories across the board in all three doubles matches. In addition to Lingman and Mukundan, Cindy Chu and Eva Wang posted singles victories at No. 3 and No. 1, respectively, to account for the other Harvard points.

“ I thought we did a good job dictating play,” coach Gordon Graham said. “We were controlling the play and made [BU] move around a lot over the courts.”

HARVARD 6, TEMPLE 1

Fresh off the convincing 5-2 win over the Terriers—and less than half an hour after the Crimson took to the courts against Temple—Harvard continued with its upward momentum, beating the Owls 6-1.

The match against Temple (1-4) started exactly the way the match with BU did. Harvard dominated doubles play, sweeping all three matches to win the doubles point.

Singles play began with junior co-captain Susanna Lingman’s continued dismantling of her opponents.

With laser-guided precision, she dropped winner after winner, frustrating opponent Lauren Varrell at every turn of the No. 3 singles match.

Her 6-0, 6-0 victory capped off a day that for her included two singles and a pair of doubles match wins. She conceded only three games the entire day.

“She is on a roll,” Mukundan said. “She is playing awesome. [With her leadership] our team’s definitely strong.”

Following Lingman’s example, the rest of the Crimson squad delivered an inspired performance.

Chu and Mukundan had no problems cruising to victories over their opponents at No. 4 and 5, respectively. Junior co-captain Courtney Bergman and sophomore Eva Wang won their matches at No. 1 and No. 2 in dramatic fashion.

After splitting the first two sets, Bergman out-dueled Danira Penic in the tiebreak 10-7. Wang wrapped up the day for Harvard on a high note, winning in second-set tiebreak, 6-3, 7-6 (3). Ashley Hyotte withdrew from her No. 6 singles match due to injury, accounting for the lone Temple University point.

“It’s nice to get back on a winning track,” Graham said. “We’ve had a spell of really tough opponents, really tough losses and a lot of ‘almost-wins.’ It’s good to get a real one.”