The Dartmouth women's tennis team won three of its five matches during a spring break trip to Florida, and in the process gained its first national team ranking in over two years.
During the middle of the set of matches in the Sunshine State, the Big Green attained the No. 70 position in the newest national rankings. Dartmouth last entered the top 75 in February 2002.
The lady racketeers opened the week's play with a dramatic victory over Jacksonville University, a team that entered the contest holding the No. 75 ranking in the nation, an unblemished record on the year as well as home court advantage. The Big Green nevertheless was unfazed, and Dartmouth edged the Dolphins 4-3 after some exceptional pressure-packed performances in singles.
The Big Green picked up a doubles victory at the No. 3 position courtesy of Jayme Ahmed '05 and co-captain Cat Crandall '04, who vanquished Martina Strussova and Kristina Puck 8-6. Unfortunately, Dartmouth could not muster the second victory needed to pick up the doubles point, and Jacksonville carried a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.
With wins from Lindsay Winingham '07 and Sarah McNally '05 in the third and fourth positions, respectively, the Big Green gained a brief lead at 2-1. Especially impressive was McNally, who managed to retain her top form despite not competing during her winter off term. McNally torched Kim Packer 6-3, 6-2, while Winingham routed Strussova by the score of 6-2, 6-2.
But the Dolphins stormed back to regain a one-point advantage at 3-2. The Dolphins' Emese Sulyos and Veronika Subertova both emerged victorious over Ahmed and Crandall. Sulyos, who hails from Hungary, and Subertova, a Slovakia native, had both enjoyed highly successful seasons; in fact, Sulyos had not lost a match in singles or doubles all season.
Despite seeing their team fall behind once again, Kerry Snow '07 and Kelsey Surbaugh '04 spurred the Big Green to victory with a pair of spectacular wins. Snow dropped the first set to Moroccan opponent Nisrine Hajbane, but the feisty freshman refused to give up. Snow roared through the second set to pick up a 6-1 win and carried her positive momentum into a 6-3 triumph in the third set.
The decisive contest occurred at No. 6 singles, as Surbaugh faced Puck with the match knotted at three points apiece. The Big Green's sizzling senior sensation won the first set with relative ease at 6-2, but Puck fought back in the second frame. The set ended up in a tiebreaker, and the spirited Southerner clinched the victory for the Big Green with a 7-5 win in the all-important tiebreaker.
The success continued for Dartmouth against Broward Community College, a school that boasts the top junior college women's tennis squad in the country. Last year the Lady Seahawks not only defeated the Big Green, but also went on to win their second consecutive National Junior College Championship. Despite these daunting circumstances, Dartmouth reversed last year's result and throttled the homestanding Lady Seahawks 7-0.
The Big Green attained the doubles point after impressive wins at both No. 2 and No. 3. At the second slot, McNally and Snow annihilated Nicole Olivia and Renaldine Achille 8-0. The third team of Ahmed and Crandall garnered its second win of the week in thrashing the team of Kim Decker and Rachel Storey 8-1.
In singles, Ahmed set the tone at the No. 1 position by toppling Karine Ionesco, the country's top-ranked junior college singles player, by the score of 6-2, 6-3. At No. 2, Crandall dug herself out of a one-set hole in defeating Leigh Shelton 2-6, 6-2, 1-0 (7).
The rest of the Dartmouth ladder captured straight-sets wins, as Winingham, McNally, Snow and Surbaugh all won easily. For the fantastic first-years, both Winingham and Snow continued to shine in picking up their eighth victories on the season, making their combined record in singles a remarkable 16-3.
In the opening pair of matches, the Big Green collected wins as quickly as they did tan lines, yet the lady racketeers' third match came against Florida International University, an imposing opponent who had been nationally ranked earlier in the year. The Big Green's wave of success ended against FIU as Dartmouth fell 6-1 in what accounted for Dartmouth's first loss since Jan. 25.
Ahmed claimed the only win for the Big Green on the day, besting Paula Zabala in a roller-coaster match at No. 1 singles. After splitting the first two sets, Ahmed's game bulged in the all-important third-set superbreaker, leading her to a 7-5, 0-6, 1-0 (8) win. The victory gave the New Jersey native a victory in either singles or doubles during all three matches up to that point over break, representing the only Dartmouth player to accomplish that feat.
Crandall came the closest to adding to the Big Green's victory total, as the senior standout fell to Bruna Discordia in a hard-fought match at No. 2 by the count of 6-2, 7-6 (5).
In its penultimate match of the break, the Big Green ran into a juggernaut in the fifteenth-ranked Miami Hurricanes. Miami entered the contest with a 10-2 record, including a perfect 8-0 mark in its home matches. With the win, the Hurricanes now hold a 12-0 record all-time against Dartmouth.
The Miami lineup, which boasted the fourth-ranked singles player in the nation as well as the 22nd best doubles tandem in the country, went undefeated on its way to a 7-0 triumph.
At No. 3 singles, Winingham came the closest to pulling off an upset, as she pushed Miami's Mari Toro to a first-set tiebreaker before succumbing 7-6 (3), 6-2.
While the Hurricanes proved to be too much for the Big Green to handle, the contest against one of the top teams in the United States served as a constructive experience for the up-and-coming Dartmouth squad.
"It was really exciting to play Miami," Winingham said. "We competed hard, and it really got all of us motivated to come back and take our games to the next level."
The Dartmouth women capped off their eventful week with a match not unlike a beautiful sunset for the spring break festivities. The Big Green ended the 10-match win streak of No. 66 Florida Atlantic University and handed the Lady Owls a 4-2 defeat.
Dartmouth secured the doubles point behind the continued strong play of McNally and Snow at the second position and the tandem of Ahmed and Crandall at the third slot. The No. 2 team downed Katherine Bartnik and Veronika Koksova of the Lady Owls by the score of 8-4, while the third doubles duo topped FAU's Krystel Borg and Tania Rivera 8-3.
In singles, the Big Green jumped out to a commanding 3-0 lead after quick victories from Winingham and Ann Scott '06. Winingham won the first set 6-0 before her opponent retired, while Scott filled in at No. 6 singles and thoroughly dominated Bartnik 6-1, 6-1.
McNally continued her successful return to match play with the fourth triumph for the Big Green on the day. The Florida native thumped Rivera by the count of 6-2, 7-6 (7).
"Our win over Florida Atlantic was a great way to end the trip," Winingham said. "Especially impressive was McNally's second set tie-break win which clinched the victory and really displayed her mental toughness."
The quintet of matches can only be described as a great achievement by the Big Green. The lady racketeers earned road victories over two nationally ranked squads, and in the process gained a ranking of its own.
"I thought we had more and more energy throughout the week and prepared well for every match," Snow said. "We made sure that everyone on the team was psyched up and believed that they could win. Winning against Jacksonville and FAU came down to having enough confidence and expecting to go home winners."
The Dartmouth women's tennis team next plays at home against Boston University on Saturday, April 3 at 12 p.m.
