The women's tennis team is enjoying an early season undefeated Ivy League record after 5-2 victories over Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania last weekend.
Coach Chris Kerr said the key to the wins over Penn and Columbia were good doubles play and solid singles performances down the entire lineup.
In all three of this season's matches, the Big Green women have won two out of the three doubles matches, and the doubles point has proved to be crucial.
Currently 4-2 overall, the team captured four out of six singles matches last weekend .
Kiyoe Hashimoto '95 and Kallie Buehler '97, who are undefeated at the number three and number five positions, respectively, are currently leading the Big Green. These two standouts also team up in the doubles, in which they have downed every opponent they have faced at the number two spot.
Debbie Healy '95, who plays in the number two position, was undefeated during the team's preseason trip in Florida, but has struggled against some tough competition in the early part of the regular season.
Healy, who has won the most improved player award the past two seasons after working her way up the varsity lineup, will look to improve her record this weekend.
Kelly Olsen '97 contributed to the weekend's victories with a strong win against Columbia in the number four position.
Although the Dartmouth women will face many tough challenges this spring, their biggest rival may be undefeated Harvard. But Yale has yet to lose a match this season, which will make the race for the Ivy League title even more competitive.
" I think we have a good chance to do well this season," Hashimoto said, "but there are a lot of tough teams in our league and we can't take anything for granted. We'll just have to take it one match at a time."
The team is looking to improve on last season's final record of 9-4, and will keep the Ivy League crown in sight.
According to Kerr, this weekend's match against the Princeton Tigers, last year's Ivy League champs, is crucial to Dartmouth's position in the league.
"Right now our expectations are to take one match at a time, play our best, and the winning will take care of itself," she said.
"They are a hard working group and I have a lot of faith that every time they step onto the court they will play with determination and a desire to win," Kerr added. "This intangible factor will be instrumental in determining who will win matches in the extremely close race for the Ivy League title this year."
