Youth proved an advantage to the Stanford men’s tennis team on Sunday when the Cardinal picked up its first win of the season against No. 26 Miami. Led by the team’s three freshmen, Stanford (1-6) edged out the Hurricanes, 4-3, in Chicago on the third day of the National Team Indoors.

Although the Card trailed 1-3 against Miami, its three freshmen hung around and ultimately closed out Stanford’s first win of the season.

Freshman Paul Morrissey celebrated his first dual match win of his Stanford career.

“It was a relief, first of all,” Morrissey said. “And it was nice to compete with 16 of the best teams in the country. Even in the matches that we lost, we felt like we were competing with the other teams and playing at [the same] level.”

Stanford set the tone on Sunday when it got off to a dominant start in doubles. Senior Eric McKean paired up with sophomore Jeff Zeller to win the first doubles set, 8-4, at the third spot. At the top position, sophomores Matt Bruch and Blake Muller won the second doubles set of the day, 8-5, to secure the doubles point for the Card. Morrissey and freshman Richard Wire led their opponents, 7-4, when doubles play was halted.

Miami (4-4) quickly bounced back and nabbed three singles matches in straight sets to take a commanding 3-1 lead. Muller, Bruch and McKean dropped their matches at the third, first and fourth singles positions, respectively, to put the Hurricanes within one point of victory.

The Card looked to its freshmen to keep the team in the match. Stanford clung onto a bit of hope when Wire and fellow freshman Kevin Kaiser both picked up their first sets, 7-5, and Morrissey eked out the first set in a tiebreaker. Kaiser then closed out his match in straight sets to trim Miami’s lead to 3-2.

The anticipation grew when Morrissey and Wire dropped close second sets, 5-7 and 4-6, respectively. At the second singles spot, Wire was able to pick up the third set, 7-5, to even the overall score to three apiece. At No. 6 singles, Morrissey finally clinched his match and the Cardinal’s first win of the season when he won the third set, 6-3.

Wire commented on how the freshmen have been adjusting.

“I feel like, with each match, we’ve been improving,” Wire said. “And in the last match, we fed off each other. We all worked together to win.”

On Friday and Saturday, Stanford dropped its fifth and sixth consecutive matches, with all of its 2007 losses coming to top-ranked teams. The Card fell to No. 2 Ohio State, 4-0, in the opening round of play on Friday and then dropped a 4-2 decision to No. 11 Duke (4-4).

Stanford almost claimed the first point against the Buckeyes (10-1) on Friday. McKean and Zeller fell 8-4 at No. 3 doubles before Bruch and Muller earned a 9-8 win at the top doubles spot. Morrissey and Wire were stretched to a tiebreaker as well, but were narrowly edged out by No. 22 Chris Klingemann and Devin Mullings.

From there, Ohio State proceeded to claim straight-set wins from Kaiser, Bruch and McKean at the fifth, first and fourth singles positions. When play stopped, two of the remaining Stanford players were trailing, and Wire had split sets with his opponent.

On Saturday, Stanford dropped a 4-2 decision to the Blue Devils, despite having been up 2-1. Overall, the Cardinal showed marked improvement this weekend in its doubles performance and picked up the first point against Duke.

Bruch and Muller notched an 8-5 win over No. 4 Joey Atas and David Goulet. Morrissey and Wire sealed the initial point for the Card with another 8-5 win at the middle doubles spot.

“We’ve both got big serves, which helps” Wire said. “And we communicate well while on the court. We’re forming a good partnership together.”

Duke then picked up wins at the second, third, fourth and sixth singles positions to clinch the “W.” Stanford’s only other point came when Bruch decisively handed No. 100 Atas a 6-2, 6-1 defeat.

The Card’s performance in doubles this weekend kept the team in the matches and even earned Stanford its first win of the season. Players agreed that the initial doubles point had a big impact on the match outcome.

“It’s only one point in seven,” Morrissey said. “But it’s the first point that’s played for. It really carries the momentum through to the singles matches, so if we continue winning it, it really makes a big difference.”

Stanford takes the court again tomorrow (1:30 p.m.) and Saturday (1 p.m.) when it faces Arizona State and Arizona, respectively, at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.