There was no Harbowl on Super Bowl Sunday, but North Carolina tennis played its own version of one.

Brothers John and Jim Harbaugh missed their chance at coaching against each other in the Super Bowl, but the UNC-Texas tennis match on the same day did pit two twin brothers against one another.

Freshman Esben Hess-Olesen plays for the No. 17 Tar Heels. His brother Soren Hess-Olesen plays for the No. 15 Longhorns.

Soren was the clear winner of the Hess-Olesen Bowl.

Playing his brother in doubles, Soren and redshirt junior Alex Hilliard rolled over Esben and senior Brennan Boyajian 8-3. And Soren won his singles match 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-2, while Esben lost his 6-4, 0-6, 7-6 (2).

Esben said that before Sunday’s match, he and Soren agreed to not tell their teams any family secrets.

“I decided with my brother a week ago that we wanted to stay quiet about everything,” Esben said. “I could have told Jose where my brother’s weaknesses are, but then he could tell his guys about my weaknesses. We didn’t want that to be a factor.”

The two siblings didn’t play against each other in singles — Esben plays at No. 3 singles and Soren plays at No. 1 — but they did end up on adjacent courts.

Esben took a tough loss against Texas’ Sudanwa Sitaram in a match full of long, dramatic rallies.

Esben forced the deciding third set to a tiebreaker by breaking Sitaram twice when he was serving for the match ahead 5-4 and 6-5, but he couldn’t pull out a win.

After he lost the tiebreaker, Esben sat alone on the court, a towel over his head and his head in his hands.

Soren, in a difficult match of his own against UNC’s No. 30 Jose Hernandez, had the opposite result.

The match was a tale of two Joses. In the games he won, he ripped deep forehands to the corners for winners — yelling and fist-pumping after big points. In the games he lost, he made bad errors and talked and gestured to himself in frustration.

When Hernandez was on his game, he was the better player. But Soren played a consistent all-around game and limited his errors.

By the third set, both players looked tired. They ran down fewer shots, hit the ball softer and more shots sailed long or found the middle of the net. Both players were also quieter, even after important points.

Soren finally took control of the match, coming up with strong forehand winners down the stretch as Hernandez’s shots got weaker.

“Obviously I was tired, but that shouldn’t be an excuse,” Hernandez said. “You’ve got to be mentally strong and fight no matter the circumstances.”

Hernandez said he asked Esben not to give him any tips on how to beat Soren, and North Carolina coach Sam Paul said he didn’t get any insider scouting from Esben.

“We do that on our own,” Paul said.

Even though Esben and Soren played next to each other, the brothers’ attention stayed fully on their own matches. Except once.

Early in Soren’s match, after his first break of Hernandez, he looked over to Esben’s court, then up at the scoreboard to see what was happening in his brother’s match.

Esben said he just pretended his brother was a complete stranger.

“I played him in doubles, but you have to think it’s someone else on the other side of the net,” Esben said. “And in singles, I didn’t think about it at all. It was like I’d never seen that guy before.”

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