The Dartmouth women's tennis squad suffered two defeats over the weekend, falling to Maryland 7-0 on Saturday and losing 7-0 to Virginia on Sunday. The pair of losses brought the Big Green's four-match winning streak heading into the weekend to an end, and also marked Dartmouth's first losses of the spring season.
It is not too disappointing considering the quality of the competition.
"I thought both matches were a good experience because they gave all of us some tougher match experience than we have had this season," said co-captain Yardi. "The scores didn't really reflect how hard we fought and how close some of the matches were."
The women now stand at 7-3 on the year and 4-2 during the young spring campaign.
At College Park on Saturday, the Terrapins emerged victorious in all nine matches against the Big Green. At the No. 4 singles slot, Jayme Ahmed '05 took Maryland's Marta Jedrzejak to three sets, eventually succumbing by the score of 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.
The remaining five singles matches were straight-set triumphs for the Terps.
At No. 1, Sarita Yardi '02 kept it close in the opening set but could not overcome Delila Causevic in falling 7-6, 6-1. At No. 3, Arden Fredeking '04 played tough versus Maryland's Pamela Floro but came out on the short end by the score of 7-6, 6-3.
Carly Bashleben '02 lost 6-3, 6-1 at No. 2, while at the fifth and sixth spots Catherine Crandall '04 and Sarah McNally '05 fell by the scores of 6-2, 6-3 and 6-0, 6-1, respectively.
Dartmouth could not match Maryland's doubles prowess either, as the Terrapins swept the three matches. However, the No. 3 team of freshmen Lisa Borowsky and Ahmed nearly pulled out the victory, falling in a tight match by the score of 8-6.
In other doubles action, the No. 1 tandem of Yardi and Bashleben lost 8-3, and the second pairing of Fredeking and Crandall fell 8-2 to their tough Terrapin opponents.
The Big Green was unable to reverse its fortunes against another strong ACC foe, the University of Virginia.
In the delightful town of Charlottesville, Va., the Cavaliers captured eight of the nine matches contested, including all six singles matches.
The lone win for the Big Green came in the first doubles, as Yardi and Bashleben vanquished UVA's team of Henriette Williams and Jennifer Tuchband by the count of 8-5.
In the other doubles contests, the Big Green's second pair of Fredeking and Crandall fell 8-3, and Borowsky and Ahmed lost at No. 3 by the score of 8-3.
In singles action, Yardi took Williams to a first-set tiebreaker before falling 7-6, 6-1. Ahmed played another close match in the fourth position, as she split the opening two sets against UVA's Dora Bechliwanis before yielding in a tiebreaker and being edged 4-6, 6-4, (10-4).
To round out the singles scores: Bashleben fell 6-1, 6-4 at No. 2; Fredeking lost 6-4, 6-2 at No. 3; Crandall was beaten 6-1, 6-3 at No. 5; and No. 6, Borowsky was defeated by the score of 6-3, 6-2.
In visiting the home courts of a pair of ACC powerhouses, the Big Green met a stiff challenge but still can learn much after facing some of the best competition on their schedule.
The ladies host Massachusetts Thursday at the Boss Tennis Center at 5:30 p.m.
