In the 87-year history of the Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis Association, Dartmouth's men's tennis team never won an EITA title.
This year looked as if it would be a repeat of years past, with opponents such as the seemingly unstoppable Harvard Crimson, as well as Yale and Princeton.
But with a strong team which included two freshmen, the Big Green made history winning its first ever EITA championship.
After a fairly long layoff in the winter, the team headed to California for spring break to warm up for the coming season. The Big Green had trouble with many of the teams, including San Diego State, Iowa University and the University of San Diego, among others. Out of practice, the team only posted a 1-5 record, with the only victory coming at the expense of Weber State.
Upon returning to Hanover, the team opened the regular against Boston College on April 2 and had an easy win, 5-2.
The following weekend, though, was the first test to see if the Big Green had any chance of a title. Hosting an extremely dangerous team from Columbia on April 9, the match was decided by the doubles point Dartmouth received under the new system by winning two out of three doubles matches. The Big Green won this nail-biter, 4-3. The next day, Dartmouth's team easily disposed of the University of Pennsylvania, 5-2.
Princeton was the featured match the following weekend as the Big Green took the show on the road for two matches. The Princeton match was hard fought from both sides, but in the end Dartmouth prevailed as the victors, 4-3.
This victory was important for the Big Green, as Princeton has been a nemesis of Dartmouth for many years. This win also marked the first time Dartmouth ever won on Princeton soil. That Saturday, Dartmouth's team posted a fairly routine victory against the midshipmen of Navy as well.
After defeating Brown the next Friday, Dartmouth hosted Yale in a very important match. Yale had just come off a loss the previous evening to Harvard, 7-0, which left Dartmouth and Harvard as the only two undefeated teams in the EITA.
After winning the doubles point, Dartmouth won only one of the six following singles matches against Yale, as Jim Rich '96 brought home victory. It was a tough 2-5 loss for the Big Green and it made Tuesday's battle with Harvard that much more important.
The Harvard tennis team was in a great position to capture yet another EITA title when they appeared on Dartmouth's campus April 27. The team had not lost a dual match on the East coast in over 5 years, and had never lost to Dartmouth.
Harvard's fourth singles player, Todd Meringhoff, was ranked number one in the East after winning the Rolex Invitational Tournament in the fall. After Dartmouth lost the doubles point, it seemed impossible for the Big Green to win four singles matches against such a talented team.
After an easy victory by Alex Kaplan '93, and two losses by Dan Coakley '94 and Holden Spaht '96, the team was down early, 3-1. In dramatic fashion, the Big Green won all three remaining matches to stun Harvard. Key late wins came from the team captain Sam Cook '93 and from Randy White '94.
The final weekend seemed to be only a formality, as Dartmouth won easily against Army and Cornell. These victories capped the greatest season in Dartmouth tennis history and earned the Big green a three-way tie for the EITA title with Harvard and Yale.
