The Dartmouth women's tennis team jumped out to a terrific start in its 2002 fall season by posting numerous outstanding results in last weekend's Quinnipiac Invitational.
In the singles A flight, the Big Green simply dominated the rest of the field, placing two Dartmouth players in the finals of that division. A pair of super sophomores, Jayme Ahmed and Sarah McNally, reached the finals of the A flight and were then deemed co-champions of that bracket.
Ahmed advanced to the final after her 6-1, 6-4 victory over Tia Kaasalainen of University of Maryland-Baltimore County. McNally defeated Kim Piazza of the home standing Quinnipiac Bobcats by the score of 7-5, 6-2 to reach the flight's final.
In other singles action, Ann Scott '06, in her first competition as a member of the Big Green, put together an impressive inaugural performance by capturing a spot in the final of the C-flight singles tournament. Scott ended up garnering second place in that division after succumbing to Alessandra Pedergnana of UMBC by the count of 6-0, 6-1.
Dartmouth also took home the titles of two of the doubles divisions to bring its total count of flight victories for the weekend to three. In the A-flight doubles, Ahmed teamed with Katie Jaxheimer '06 to triumph in that bracket, while the duo of Scott and Evie Stevens '05 captured the B-flight doubles crown.
The Big Green had to deal with a weather delay on Friday and a long day of action of Saturday, as matches occurred from nine in the morning to 11:30 in the evening on that day to make up for the washout on Friday.
Nonetheless, neither the inclement weather nor the lack of any prior official matches this season could hinder the Dartmouth lady racketeers, who achieved a thoroughly impressive performance over the course of the weekend. In fact, every member of the Big Green attained at least one victory in the tournament.
"The weekend was great for us considering Dartmouth won half of the flights at the tournament," captain Lisa Francazio said. "The team dynamics were great, and despite the long days everyone had a great attitude and outlook."
Dartmouth hits the road again this weekend, competing in the Brown Invitational on October 4-6. Among the schools competing are three Ivies: Harvard, Princeton, and the host Bears.
"Quinnipiac gave us a lot of confidence," Ahmed said. "We're looking forward to Brown because we get the chance to see some of the Ivy League and where we stand among them."
