The Big Green men's tennis team hosted its first two home meets of the spring season this weekend at Leverone Field House, winning impressively against St. John's on Saturday 6-1 and losing to a tough Penn State team 2-5 on Sunday afternoon.
Against St. John's Dartmouth looked strong, winning all six single matches, and came only one doubles win short of the sweep over the Red Storm.
In doubles action, Matt Fuller '97 and Avery Rueb '98 dominated their match at the two position to win 7-2.
As they looked on after their quick victory, the Big Green dropped the one and three doubles matches by the identical score of 8-6.
In the one position, Jim Rich '96 and captain Holden Spaht '96 showed flashes of excellence, but could not pull out the victory in the end. Freshmen Rob Simik and Austin Hawley, teaming up at the three position, could not capitalize on an early lead, and also fell to their opponents.
However, after going down 1-0 in the team standings, the Big Green never looked back and proceeded to shut out St. John's in singles play 6-0. Rich got the ball rolling with a quick 6-3, 6-2 straight sets victory over Vishal Gupta at the one position.
Fuller, at number two, continued the Dartmouth assault, though not with the same speed and ease as Rich. After taking the first set, 6-4, Fuller dropped the second 5-7 to St. John's Dan Andriano. In the third set, the two battled to a thrilling 7-6 victory in Fuller's favor.
At the number three position, Spaht handily defeated Cyril Tranchand in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3. Freshman Eric Holtzer added another straight set victory at number four over Nino Moukhatasov 6-0, 6-0.
Another freshman, Gabe Sauerhoff and Rueb finished off the Red Storm with 6-2, 6-0 and 6-1, 6-2 victories at the five and six spots, respectively.
Yesterday, facing a very tough Penn State team, the Big Green could only manage victories at the three and five singles positions from Spaht and Sauerhoff.
Mixing up the doubles lineup a bit, by resting Rich and Spaht and moving Fuller and Rueb into the number one spot and inserting Holtzer and Sauerhoff into the two position, the Big Green could not connect with a victory, thereby conceding the first team point to the Nittany Lions.
In singles action, Rich lost his match to a very competitive Penn State opponent. Fuller was unable to point the first Big Green team point on the board either, dropping his match
Behind the consistent play of Spaht, the Big Green halted the shut out. Spaht continued his strong play of late, taking the win over Penn State.
At the four spot, Holtzer dropped only the second match of his freshmen season. Sauerhoff, at number five, continued his undefeated singles season by adding Dartmouth's other team point with a victory. Rueb closed out the Big Green effort with a loss.
Dartmouth now heads into next weekend's match against Monmouth with a 5-2 spring record. Ivy League action heats up in two weeks as the Big Green faces a demanding road trip to Penn and Columbia.
