After a whirlwind weekend away, the Big Green men's tennis team returned to Hanover Saturday night with a 1-1 split. At the University of Pennsylvania, the team managed a 4-3 victory, but could not repeat the outcome against a very tough Columbia, dropping the meet 6-1.
Going into Friday's match, the team had not practiced outside in 10 days, forcing the Big Green to adapt when the good weather at Penn moved the match to the outdoor courts.
Dartmouth put the first team point on the scoreboard against the Quakers, taking the doubles point with victories by Matt Fuller '97 and Avery Rueb '98 at the number two position and freshmen Eric Holzer and Gabe Sauerhoff at number three. Fuller and Rueb's thrilling 8-6 win would prove to be the deciding match of the day.
In singles action, Jim Rich '96 opened with a straight set victory at the one position. Dartmouth's next singles victory did not come until Holzer gave the Big Green a 3-2 team lead with a straight set victory. Sauerhoff followed with another Dartmouth win to solidify the Big Green's 11th team victory of the year.
"Penn was one of those matches where no one really played well, but we luckily won," Rueb said. "Sometimes that is all you can do."
Going from the fast outdoor courts at Penn to the slow clay surface in the "bubble" at Columbia proved to be a very tough transition for Dartmouth.
While Dartmouth managed to take the doubles point by once again winning at the two and three positions, the Big Green was blanked the rest of the way. Rueb was the only Dartmouth player who managed to win a set as the team slid to a 6-1 loss.
The team was quick to point to Columbia's strength on clay as the main factor in the loss.
"The indoor clay is such a specialized surface that if you don't practice on it much, then you really can't play your best on it," Rueb said.
"We were dominated in singles by several clay court players," Holzer said. "Columbia enjoys having the best home-court advantage in the Ivy League."
Coach Chuck Kinyon summed up Columbia's dominance: "Columbia played a great singles match against us. My coaching record, which is pretty long, is zero for life against Columbia in the bubble."
With a solid 11-4 record, the Big Green will return to the friendly home surface of the Leverone for this weekend's matchups against Navy on Friday and Princeton on Saturday.
