Dartmouth women's tennis lost their first match of the season yesterday to the University of Massachusetts 7-2 at the Alexis Boss Tennis Center. The Big Green fought the Minutemen hard in every point, but just couldn't pull enough of them out.
Arden Fredeking '04, playing first singles, gave a very strong fight to freshman Francesca Mancini. Fredeking fell 6-4, 6-2 but continued her solid season.
"I've made some adjustments on my game since Harvard, coming in and being aggressive, and that kind of game doesn't work if you hesitate at all. I just hesitated way too much," said Fredeking.
"I was really excited to play first, and I think it's a great honor on this team. I was really negative from the beginning though, and I may have wanted it too much," Fredeking added.
Catherine Crandall '04 won her second singles match 6-4, 6-1 over Annie Hamilton. Crandall played very aggressively, mixing up deadly accurate ground strokes with a lot of net play to keep Hamilton off balance and permanently on the defensive.
At third singles, Christine Miller '04 struggled early on against freshman Jafra Depontes, but hung tough throughout the match. Miller lost 6-1, 6-2.
In her first match action of the season, Jenny Stewart '03 nearly took a point from Helena Horak, but couldn't hang on. Stewart and Horak split the first two 6-4, 2-6 before Stewart went up 4-3 in the deciding set.
At one point, Stewart was up 4-3 in the deciding set. In the end, though, she was unable to hang on and lost the final set 6-4. Stewart did look very promising, with a lot of power in her game, and looks to be a serious contender for a starting spot once winter rolls around.
Michael Rozas '02 lost another tight one at fifth singles to freshman southpaw Susan Hyams. Rozas played up and down, with brilliant shots accompanied by spurts of inaccuracy, and eventually succumbed, 6-3, 6-3.
Lisa Francazio '03, playing sixth singles, again showed her resiliency, but could not pull out the come-from-behind win against Lindsey Gillooly. Down 0-6, 1-4, Francazio turned it up a notch, pulling back to 4-4, before falling 6-4.
In doubles play, Dartmouth showed marked improvement.
Crandall and Miller, playing first doubles against Gillooly and Hamilton, displayed aggression, quick hands and great reaction time in dispatching their opponents easily 8-1. The duo looked like a top flight pair for the first time all season, making the team and its fans even more optimistic about the upcoming season.
Fredeking and Rozas at times looked as good as their teammates, but lacked the consistency, struggling to an 8-3 defeat at the hands of Depontes and Mancini.
Stewart and playing partner Sarah Lodewick '01, fought hard, but couldn't overcome the combination of Horak and Hyams, dropping their match 8-3. Plagued by unforced errors, the twosome looked rusty as they played their first doubles competition of the year, but showed flashes of great promise that will put them squarely in the mix for the rest of the season.
A big plus for the younger players was the presence of the upperclassmen such as Lodewick and the injured Carolyn Roth '01, whose voices carried throughout the tennis center cheering on the team. Both are very energetic and give a boost to the younger players while they were on the court.
Though this drops the team to 0-1, the team's spirits are high heading into next weekend's Dartmouth Invitational. If the positive swing they are on continues, the team should have some of the highest finishers in the tournament.
