The Dartmouth women's tennis team played the spoiler this Tuesday, taking away a share of the Ivy League title from Harvard University with a 5-2 upset in the Big Green's last home match of the season.
Harvard was ranked second in the East and was fighting for a share of the Ivy League title with Princeton University coming into the match. Harvard, who plays a national schedule, entered the season highly favored to win the Ivy League.
"They walked into Leverone and played to win. It was no nonsense - everyone played well," Coach Chris Kerr said. "It was probably the win of the Ivy League season."
The Dartmouth women, now 6-4 on the season and 4-2 in the Ivy League, got back on track, taking the doubles point after losing it for the first time against Yale University on Saturday.
"Winning the doubles point gave us enough confidence to do the same in singles," Kallie Buehler '97 said.
Kiyoe Hashimoto '95, Debbie Healy '95 and Buehler all defeated previously unbeaten players in straight sets to give the Big Green the points to put them over the top in the singles matches. Healy and Hashimoto downed this and last year's top recruits in the country in straight sets.
Healy defeated Harvard's Gina Majmudar, ranked 18th in the country in Juniors and third in the East in collegiate tennis.
Elizabeth Baker '97 sealed the win with another victory in the number six spot.
"We knew we had nothing to lose, but we just wanted to beat Harvard," Hashimoto said. "I don't think anyone was expecting much of us, which made it that much sweeter."
"I had a feeling they didn't take us seriously when they came in and thought this would be a routine win," Kerr said. "I think we showed them that Dartmouth tennis is a force to be reckoned with; we really took them by surprise."
The Dartmouth women defeated Harvard last season for the first time in 13 years, but according to Kerr, this year's win was much more gratifying.
"Beating Harvard was definitely the highlight of our season," Captain Cathy Birkeland '94 said. "We all played some of our best tennis of the season."
The Big Green will face another challenge this weekend in their final match of the season against Cornell University. The Dartmouth women will play the first match in the new facility at Cornell being dedicated on Saturday.
A win against Cornell could put the team in second place in the league.
"We can't underestimate Cornell," Kerr said.
