This afternoon the women's tennis team looks to win an Ivy League title for the first time in school history and erase the painful memories of numerous second-place finishes.
The Harvard team may be more talented, and it certainly is the favorite, butDartmouth goes into the match with the momentum and the excitement from a season that was dramatically rescued from a dismal beginning.
Yesterday, the men's tennis team faced the Harvard Crimson for the Ivy League title. Today it is the women's turn. But, unlike the men, this is not where the team or anyone else expected them to be.
Two weeks ago the team sported a 1-3 record, having dropped its Ivy League opener to the University of Pennsylvania. The future did not look bright.
The team was constantly losing close three-set matches. The lack of follow through plagued the team and there was no indication it would stop.
Two weeks ago those same problems faced the team as it went up against undefeated Cornell and Princeton, the defending Ivy League champions. Many people expected the Big Green to fold and fall into the depths of the Ivy League. Easter threatened to be a time of mourning for the team.
Overmatched and plagued by problems, the team began its final homestand against Cornell. It was another close 4-3 contest, but this time it was the Big Green's turn to pull one out.
The next day, riding momentum from Cornell, Dartmouth destroyed, obliterated and otherwise humiliated Princeton with a 7-0 victory.
Last weekend, there was still doubt in many observer's minds. After all, any team could have a good weekend.
But Dartmouth again proved its doubters wrong, beating Brown and Yale to give them a 5-1 Ivy League record, good for second place, poised to take yet another title from Harvard.
The Big Green have the energy, the tenacity and the desire to win the title. Harvard is the team that is supposed to be there fighting for the title. Dartmouth is the team that wanted to be there and had the heart to fight its way through a bleak start. No one wants the title more than the Big Green and the women's team has earned a reputation as the victorious underdog.
As the team travels to Cambridge today, the Harvard team can only be thinking of the outcome of the last two years. Last year Dartmouth took the title from Harvard and handed it to the Princeton Tigers.
The Dartmouth team that defeated Harvard to pull it to second place is the team that is hoping to capture its first Ivy title tomorrow.
