Coming off an impressive fall tournament season, the Big Green men's tennis team looks poised to take on a challenging match play season.
With five starters graduating, Dartmouth had a seemingly tough challenge ahead of them, beginning the year with a young, but talented cast. However, co-captains David Webb '05 and Andres Reyes '05 managed to create a cohesive team that proved both supportive and dangerous throughout the fall.
"I am really stoked for the upcoming season," Webb commented. "We have a great squad this year and a lot of exciting personalities."
The Dartmouth men's tennis team began the year with a strong showing at the Volkl Tennis Shootout. Priya Sahu '05, Reyes, Jeff Schechtman '08 and Dave Steinberg '08, along with the doubles teams of Logan West '05/ Sahu and Schechtman/ Dave Waslen '07 all went undefeated against the likes of Buffalo, Colgate, Army and Niagra.
Next, the Big Green traveled to the Yale Invitational in New Haven, Conn., and got its first taste of Ivy League rivals Princeton, Yale, Columbia and Cornell.
Here Webb and Schechtman performed well in singles play and two Dartmouth doubles teams faced off against each other in the "B" flight finals as Mark Brodie '07/ Schechtman defeated Steven McGaughey '07/ Waslen in a nail-biting 9-8 match.
The team then headed off to the National Tennis Center for the ECAC tournament and the pleasure of taking on the top 16 teams in the East. With an early loss to Penn 4-3, Dartmouth responded with two consecutive victories against St. Joseph's and Stony Brook.
To close up the season, Dartmouth hosted the Big Green Invitational in which 50 players from 11 different colleges traveled to Hanover to square off against each other in tournament play.
The singles "A" finals was all Green as Webb defeated Schechtman. On the doubles side, the duo of Schechtman/ Brodie lost a tough finals match to a team from Marist College.
If the Fall season is any indication of how the men's team will fair in the weeks to come, Dartmouth tennis fans can be excited for what seems to be a challenging, yet promising season.
On Feb. 5, the Big Green will open the season against Furman College and then travel to Clemson a day later for two tough back-to-back road matches.
They will then open up a four-match home stand against Boston College, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Colgate and Army.
In mid-March, a long trek to the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club will match Dartmouth against the Utah Utes and the Iowa Hawkeyes; this will be followed by two more consecutive road matches against Loyola Marymount and the University of California"Santa Barbara.
At the end of March, Dartmouth will host Middlebury College before the Ivy League season opens on April 8.
Arranging such a difficult schedule could be either disastrous for the Big Green or harden and test the squad for its end of the year Ivy season. But in the end, conference play is all that really matters.
Out of conference matches have their appeal, but in the Ancient Eight, nothing is sweeter than an Ivy League title.
Dartmouth College has battled against the likes of Yale, Brown and Harvard for generations. When the Big Green face off against Columbia -- its first Ivy League opponent of the year -- all bets are off and nothing else matters.
After taking on the Lions, Cornell will look to knock off the Big Green in Hanover before Dartmouth faces off against its final five opponents -- Princeton, Penn, Brown, Yale and Harvard -- for what looks to be a string of difficult, perhaps season-defining matches.
The outcome of conference play will be a strong litmus test for the team. How they respond to such stiff competition could indicate how they will perform later in the season.
Will Schechtman grow into full blown star any casual fan knows he can be? Do Webb and Reyes have the poise to lead their teammates to an Ancient Eight title?
The Big Green had a good fall. Veterans delivered and freshmen took their respective games to the next level. But will that translate into success in April?
It's a long tennis season and between injuries and dumb luck, anything could happen.
However, one thing is for sure. There will be no shortage of thrilling tennis in Hanover this winter and spring.
