The Dartmouth women's tennis team experienced a roller coaster week during its spring break trip to Florida, as the Big Green dropped its first three matches in the Sunshine State before reversing its fortunes and gaining victory in its final two matches.
Early in the week, Syracuse University, Lynn University and Broward Community College all bettered the Dartmouth squad. The Big Green bounced back and tallied wins against the homestanding teams from Stetson University and Jacksonville University.
The women racketeers dropped a 7-0 decision to the Orangewomen of Syracuse to commence the week's play. The end score belied how close the contest actually was, as multiple matches came down to the wire.
Notable for her outstanding effort during this contest was Cat Crandall '04, who nearly grabbed wins in both her singles and doubles matches. At No. 2 singles, Crandall took the first set 7-5 before coming up on the losing end of two consecutive tiebreakers in dropping a hard-fought three set match. In doubles, Crandall paired with classmate Arden Fredeking in the No. 1 position, where the duo fell by the score of 8-6.
Evie Stevens '05 also nearly got Dartmouth on the scoreboard, but Syracuse's Wei-Ming Leong shook off a one-set deficit before eventually defeating Stevens in a third-set tiebreaker.
The trip did not get any easier for the sun-soaked Big Green, as next on the docket was Lynn University, a school that typically fields one of the preeminent Division II teams in the country. The final score of that encounter saw Lynn best Dartmouth 7-2 in a match that employed the Division II scoring system, where each doubles match counts as one point.
Yet the Big Green managed to take two points from this potent squad after impressive victories from Ann Scott '06 and Stevens. Scott again displayed amazing resilience for a first-year player by digging herself out of an early hole when she managed to capture the match after dropping the opening set. Stevens continued her solid play in defeating Dina Bajramovic of the Fighting Knights in straight sets by the count of 6-4, 6-4.
Unfortunately, the rest of the Big Green was unable to find similar success against such stiff competition. Lynn possesses three nationally-ranked Division II competitors: Kristina Triska -- who also won the 2002 Division II ITA Fall Regional Singles Championship -- is ranked fourth in the nation, Monica Mastalirova is No. 6 and Marie Barbier is No. 22. This outstanding threesome spearheaded the Fighting Knights' triumph by going a combined 5-0 in their matches.
The Big Green kept doing its best imitation of the Temple University men's basketball team in continuing to play a seemingly unending string of top-level opponents, as the team's third match of its Florida trip came against the top-ranked junior college in the country, Broward Community College.
While Broward won the match 6-3, the bottom half of the singles ladder again shined for the Big Green. The tremendous threesome of Scott, Sarah McNally '05 and Stevens collected wins at Nos. 4, 5 and 6, respectively.
Despite these losses, the Dartmouth lady racketeers began to better acclimate themselves to the local hot and sunny conditions, and -- much like Goran Ivanisevic at Wimbledon -- put the tough defeats of their past behind them and went on to achieve excellence for the remainder of the Florida matches.
The Big Green's first team triumph of the trip came against Stetson, as Dartmouth gained a 5-2 victory.
The Big Green set the tone for the match as a whole by emerging from a trio of close doubles matches with a pair of wins and thereby the doubles point. At No. 2, frisky freshman Katie Jax-heimer teamed with sunburned sophomore Jayme Ahmed to pick up an 8-6 win.
Then, the No. 3 team of Lisa Francazio '03 and Scott again demonstrated their flair for the dramatic by edging their opponents 9-7 and clinching the crucial doubles point.
In singles, co-captain Fredeking continued the team's positive momentum by thrashing her adversary 6-2, 6-1 at the No. 4 spot to increase Dartmouth's advantage. Following Fredeking's lead were McNally, Scott and Stevens, who, for the second consecutive match, all provided key wins for the Big Green.
Before heading back to Hanover, the Dartmouth lady racketeers ended their voyage on a positive note by overcoming a spirited challenge from Jacksonville to win 4-3. While the Dolphins swept the three doubles matches, the Big Green responded more quickly than a Greg Rusedski first serve to win four of the six singles matches to secure the victory.
Again, Nos. 3-6 carried the Big Green to success as McNally, Fredeking, Scott and Stevens all won their matches in straight sets. The decisive win came courtesy of Fredeking, who broke a 3-3 tie by taking her closely contested match by the score of 7-6, 7-5.
"We had some tough competition and tight matches which will only make us tougher for Ivy matches in the next few weeks," co-captain Francazio said. "Stetson and Jacksonville were such good wins for us because we were able to compete well as a team, pulling out a few incredible matches."
"Evie Stevens finished off her usual marathon match for a final win against Stetson and Arden Fredeking played an amazing match to cap off Jacksonville."
In its first match back from spring break, the Big Green fell 7-0 in a tough road match at Boston University that again was much closer than the ending result indicated.
"We had a very close, tough battle that wasn't reflected in the final score of the match," Scott said about the BU contest.
"If a few tiebreakers had gone the other way, we definitely could have come out victorious. It was a tough loss, but I think it will help us stay motivated and hungry for our matches against some strong teams this weekend."
Dartmouth next plays at Harvard on Saturday before returning home to play Brown at noon on Sunday at the Boss Tennis Center. The team now stands at 7-8 on the season as it begins Ivy League competition.
"We are all really excited to kick off the Ivy season this weekend against Harvard and Brown," Scott said. "They are both strong teams, so we will all have to be on top of our games."
