The tennis courts by West Gym were largely empty this weekend, populated only by pairs of hackers out for some exercise. The hardcourt and clay surfaces remained virtually untouched because both of Dartmouth's varsity teams were busy tearing up the courts in other venues.
Dartmouth men's and women's tennis teams each enjoyed successful weekends, playing above expectations in their respective tournaments. At the Brown Invitational in Providence, R.I., Dartmouth's women were victorious in Flight D singles, as well as Flights A and D doubles. Meanwhile in Princeton, N.J., the Dartmouth men improved upon a seventh seeding to finish fifth in the ECAC Championship, defeating favored Yale.
Caroline Bashleben '02 rebounded from a poor first set to beat Harvard's Shana Miller (4-6, 6-2, 6-0) and take Dartmouth's only singles title. Flight A singles player Rebecca Dirksen '00 lost her first match, but won the consolation round by defeating Virginia's Stacy Gingold (7-6, 6-3).
Dirksen and Flight A doubles partner Allison Taff '00 provided the highlight for the women's team, beating Virginia's Christie Shweer and Leslie Cook 8-6 in the final.
"We are definitely most happy about our win over UVA in the finals because they were ranked 25th in the country," Taff said. "In terms of doubles, this weekend couldn't have gone better."
Bashleben and Carolyn Roth '01 ran away with the Flight D title, overcoming Providence 8-2. The doubles tandem of Jen Lange '00 and Sarita Yardi '02 finished second in the Flight B section, as did Michelle Bray '00 and Courtney Shelley '01 in C Flight.
"I was really excited about the way we played," Dirksen said.
"This tournament is a confidence booster for us because we finally proved we can win a tournament," Taff said.
On the men's side, Dartmouth took two of three overall matches, improving its season record to 4-1.
The men crushed Navy on Friday. Highlighting the match was top singles player Erich Holzer '99, who after dropping the opening game won the final twelve games of his match to win, 6-1, 6-0.
After losing to a tough Virginia Tech squad Saturday, the Big Green bounced back Sunday to narrowly defeat Yale. Rob Chen '00 won his number six singles match in three sets, earning Dartmouth a 4-3 victory. The Green's other victories came at numbers two, three and four singles, where Rob Simik '99 and Gabe Sauerhoff '99 won in straight sets, and Andrew Evans '00 went to the three-set limit to beat his opponent.
"A victory over Yale was really important for this team," Austin Hawley '99 said. "You can never be too sure where you stand relative to the other teams in the league before ECAC's. I think we knew we had an experienced team with a lot of depth, but beating Yale gives us some additional confidence."
The men will face more of the regional elites when they enter the Pennsylvania Classic in two weeks.
