The chilly weekend weather had no effect on the play of the Big Green men's tennis team this weekend as they streaked past Monmouth 7-0.
Dartmouth began the swarm in doubles action by sweeping all three matches. At the one position, Jim Rich '96 and Captain Holden Spaht '96 teamed up for an easy 8-2 victory.
Freshmen phenoms Gabe Sauerhoff and Eric Holzer resumed the assault, rolling to an 8-1 win. Because of their recent play, these two have slid into the number two doubles position in the last two meets.
"Sauerhoff and I are starting to get comfortable playing with each other," Holzer said.
Fellow freshmen Rob Simik and Austin Hawley continued their solid play at the three spot by not yielding a single game on route to an 8-0 annihilation of their opponents.
With a 1-0 lead on the team scoreboard, Dartmouth began singles play with an air of cool confidence that was almost broken with Rich's tough 7-6, 7-6 win at the number one position.
Lasting longer than any match of the afternoon, Rich dug deep for the victory over the Hawk's tough-serving Neil Goldsby.
"It was a difficult to get a rhythm against him because he had such a strong serve and the rest of his game was somewhat erratic," said Rich. "While I felt I was in control of the points on my serve, I felt equally uncomfortable returning his."
The exciting, close-knit play of the first match proved to be the exception to an afternoon of Dartmouth dominance on the courts.
The remaining Big Green troops rallied for a combined 60-6 dusting of the humbled Hawks.
In possibly the fastest played match of his Dartmouth career, Matt Fuller '97 methodically trounced Monmouth's Andy Winfield at the two position, 6-1, 6-0.
Spaht kept up the intensity, racking up a 6-4, 6-1 win over Sam Tirodkar at the three spot.
In the bottom bracket, Holzer and Sauerhoff continued the barrage of Monmouth at four and five, each posting match scores of 6-0, 6-0 over opponents Ross Markowitz and Paul Jarzler, respectively.
"As for the singles, I just went out and played solid tennis. I made a conscious effort to attack more and come to the net," Holzer said.
Avery Rueb '98 rounded out the Big Green trouncing, yielding nothing but goose eggs to Monmouth's Jason Gindi in a straight set rout.
Looking ahead to upcoming Ivy League play, Dartmouth gets things started with a tough, upcoming road weekend at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia.
With an Ivy League title as its goal, the team sees next weekend as a crucial step.
Coming off Friday's big win, the squad feels prepared for the ensuing challenge.
"I think the Monmouth match showed we are ready for the upcoming Ivy season," Rich said. "Erich, Gabe and Avery are all playing great tennis right now and for us to win the Ivies they will have to continue to carry wins at the four, five and six spots."
With the majority of its league matches on the road this season, the team will have to deal with a variety of playing situations. For example, after going from the familiar, Leveroneesque indoor surface at Penn, the Big Green will have to adjust the next day to the clay courts at Columbia's indoor bubble.
"I think we are ready," Coach Chuck Kinyon said. "The Columbia situation will be different. We'll practice a few times on clay this week to prepare for them. They are a very tough team though and undefeated at home."
Standing at 10-3 going into the weekend, Dartmouth is keeping everything in perspective.
"We are just going to have to take one match at a time and not let the fact that a majority of our matches are away bother us," Rich said.
With a positive attitude and strong play as of late, the Big Green seems poised for a successful Ivy League campaign this season.
