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This weekend, the Yale men’s and women’s tennis teams got off to rocky starts as both fell to Harvard University on Friday. However, both teams were successful in their quests for redemption by dominating Dartmouth College on Sunday.

The women’s tennis team (9–11, 1–2 Ivy) started their weekend in Cambridge, where they lost to Harvard (10–8, 2–1 Ivy) 1–4. Vivian Cheng ’23 was the sole Blue and White pointwinner, trouncing the Crimson’s Angel You 6–1, 6–3. 

“Vivian did a phenomenal job this weekend being extremely dominating in both performances,” head coach Rachel Kahan said.

Chelsea Kung ’23 battled through the third set, where she ultimately fell to Charlotte Owensby 3–6, 7–5, 3–6. Rebecca Lynn won her first set at No. 5 singles in a tiebreaker and was tied in the second set when she was pulled off the court after Harvard won their fourth point.

The Elis returned to New Haven to take on Dartmouth (4–11, 0–3 Ivy), looking for a win to close out their weekend.

The Bulldogs won the doubles point and three singles points, blanking the Big Green in the Bulldogs’ first home Ivy match of the season.

Doubles duos Cheng and Rhea Shrivastava ’23 and Ann Wright Guerry ’26 and Kung defeated Ashley Hess with Chidimma Okpara and Brooke Hess with Katie Weber with scores of 7–5 and 6–2, respectively.

“I think our team succeeded in keeping good energy and gritting out the match against Dartmouth,” Guerry said.

Both Kung and Cheng drew scores of 6–0, 6–2 against their Hanover counterparts.

The men’s tennis team kicked off their weekend at home, battling Harvard (15–5, 3–0 Ivy) to an unfortunate 2–5 loss for the Bulldogs. In doubles, Theo Dean ’24 and Aidan Reilly ’25 defeated Crimson Ronan Jachuck and Henry von der Schulenburg 6–2.

Dean was also victorious in singles, beating Harris Walker 6–2, 6–3. Luke Neal ’25 sealed the second point for the Blue and White when he toppled Alan Yim in a third set victory 6–4, 2–6, 6–2.

“On Friday against Harvard, Luke Neal did a great job at No. 5 singles,” captain Dean said. “He sat out the match against St. John’s, so to come back into the lineup and commit so well to the things he’s been working on recently was a great effort by him.”

On Sunday, the Elis closed out their weekend with a 7–0 blank at Dartmouth (11–10, 1–2 Ivy).

In doubles, Renaud Lefevre ’24 and Vignesh Gogineni ’26 beat Miles Groom and Waleed Qadir 6–0. Dean and Reilly extended their weekend doubles win streak to two, defeating Alex Knox-Jones and Logan Chang 6–1.

Dean, Reilly and Walker Oberg ’25 were straight set winners in singles. Gogineni, Michael Sun ’23 and Neal all eked out third set wins.

Next weekend, both the men’s and women’s teams will take on Penn on Saturday and Princeton on Sunday.

“We’re looking forward to challenging both Penn and Princeton,” Dean said. “Both of those teams beat us earlier this year but we’re tougher, fitter, and better than we were two months ago, so we’re excited to take it to both of these teams.”

Penn’s men’s team (10–8, 2–1 Ivy) is ranked third in the Ivy League, and Princeton’s men’s team (12–12, 0–3 Ivy) is at the bottom of the Ivy League rankings. Princeton’s women’s team (12–6, 3–0 Ivy) leads the Ivy League rankings, and Penn (11–6, 1–2 Ivy) is third in the league. Yale’s men’s team is ranked fifth in the league, and Yale’s women’s team is ranked seventh.

Yale’s men’s team is currently ranked No. 75 in national rankings.