The Dartmouth women's tennis team had a mixed weekend, losing to Pennsylvania and beating Columbia to bring the Big Green to 1-2 overall, 1-1 in the Ivy League.
The team lost 7-0 to Penn, despite forcing several matches to three sets. The loss echoed Dartmouth's performance last weekend against Boston University, when the team dropped several close sets and lost 5-2.
"The loss to Penn was very frustrating, because everyone's match was competitive and close," co-Captain Kiyoe Hashimoto '95 said. "We wanted to come out against Penn all fired up and ready to start out the season with a win."
Hashimoto opened her singles match against Penn with a tough loss. She won the first set 6-4. The second set was even closer, but Hashimoto lost the tie breaker 11-9, and the set 7-6. As has been the trend this season, Hashimoto's opponent won the third set, 6-4. Hashimoto later teamed up with Kallie Buehler '97, again falling short in the number two doubles match, losing 8-6.
The team had hoped to come out strong in its Ivy League opener against Penn, to set the tone for the rest of the Ivy League season.
Going into the game against Columbia, the women had performed well in both their previous matches, but not well enough to win. They also faced the added disadvantage of playing on clay courts.
The match against Columbia was far different from the Big Green's previous outings. The close sets finally began to go Dartmouth's way. Hashimoto and Buehler teamed up for another doubles victory, winning the number two spot, 8-0.
Buehler also won her singles match in two sets. Buehler's success echoes the Big Green's turn around.
She fell behind five to one in the first set at Columbia before scoring six games to win the first set 7-5 and win the second set 6-2. Co-Captain Deb Healy '95 and Traci Lee '97 also won the first doubles match. Those victories gave Dartmouth its first victory of the yearas the Big Green won 4-3.
"Columbia was a great example of how the team has finally crossed over that line and is ready to win matches as opposed to being really close." Hashimoto said. "This weekend brought us together. We're definitely fired up to win."
The team will hostPrinceton and Cornell next weekend.
