Both the men's and women's tennis teams took a trip down to Cambridge, Mass., last weekend to participate in the Harvard Invitational. Each enjoyed moderate success, as women's co-captain Carly Bashleben '02 won the first-flight consolation singles, while Borko Kereshi '04 captured the men's B-flight championship.
Kereshi started off slowly, dropping the first set, 6-2, to Kevin Bielen of Rutgers, before capturing the next set, 6-1. The final set was hard fought, but Kereshi broke Bielen's serve in the final game to win the set 6-4, as well as the B-flight championship. Said Kereshi, "Overall in the tournament I played pretty well, but my serve has improved recently and is what really pulled me through."
Dartmouth completed its sweep of the B flight with David Webb '05 disposing of Harvard's David Heniker, 6-4, 6-4, getting revenge on Heniker for defeating his teammate Andres Reyes '05. "I played a couple tight ones against guys from Harvard and Rutgers," said Webb, "but luckily [I] came out on top."
In doubles play, the men did not enjoy as much success. Co-captain Jeffrey Sloves '02 and partner James Dinkmeyer '04 came out flat after a first-round bye, and ended up on the short side of an 8-4 match against a formidable Harvard duo. The other doubles teams went a combined 2-4.
For the women's squad, Bashleben headlined as she made short work of Brown's Alex Arlak in the first-flight consolation singles final, rolling to a 6-0, 6-1 victory. No other woman was able to capture any singles title at the tourney, though.
In the first-flight doubles consolation, Big Green freshmen Jayme Ahmed and Lisa Borowsky stormed to an 8-5 victory over Alana Marcu and Silvia Gugliemi of Boston University, playing with poise and confidence throughout the match.
The men's squad will tangle with Boston College a week from today, while the women will meet Boston College this Saturday at the Alexis Boss Tennis Center.
