The women's tennis team kicked off its fall season this past weekend as the Big Green competed against Colgate and Fairfield University in the Dartmouth Invitational. One word can describe the team's performance -- monstrous.
The Big Green came armed with all the weapons in the arsenal and blew their opponents away. On Friday, against Colgate, they didn't drop a single match, winning 7-0. And on Saturday, the Green came roaring back to smoke Fairfield 8-1 in matches.
"I'm please with what I saw this weekend," Coach Kerr said. "We've got a young team, but they certainly rose to the occasion."
Young is right, for leading the women into their matches were two freshmen playing at the one and two spots. Rebecca Dirksen '00 and Allison Taff '00 both showed why they're playing at the top spots as the repeatedly pounded their opponents with big shots.
On Saturday against Fairfield, Dirksen took the first set handily, 6-2, with deep groundstrokes and hammering serves. Her opponent couldn't put anything together to beat Dirksen's game and as a result, she never looked back winning the second set 6-1.
The win was number two on the weekend for Dirksen who easily defeated her opponent on Friday also.
Taff, who looked strong Friday, started out a little shaky Saturday, but soon found her game as she rallied back from a three game deficit in the first set to win it and then went on to take the next one 6-1, giving her the straight set victory.
In doubles, Taff and Dirksen paired to play number one for the Big Green. They won both days, pounding their Fairfield opponents on Saturday 8-4.
Captain Kallie Buehler '97 had a somewhat harder time as it took her three sets to beat her opponent, 6-3, 3-6,7-5. Buehler needed three sets to win on Friday also.
In the four through six positions, Dartmouth held strong. Junior Katie Kirchmire won in straight set both days as well as Jenny Lange '00 at number six. Michelle Bray '00 won at the five position both days.
Bray paired with Buehler to play number two doubles, and Lange played with sophomore Sarah Anderson at three doubles.
With these victories, the team will now move on to tougher opponents such as Boston University and the Ivy League.
But Kerr is confident of the team's potential. "We're a much more evenly balanced team then last year's," she said. "I think we're just as competitive in the one and two spots as in the five and six."
"If we need to improve on anything as a team, it might be our mental toughness, and to work on our patience," Kerr added. "But that will all come as we get some more match time under our belt."
And as the season progress, the Big Green can only get stronger.
