After a three-week layoff, a trio of Dartmouth's top men's tennis players returned to action and form during the five-day Intercollegiate Tennis Association Northeast Men's Regional Championships, otherwise known as the ITA Regionals.
Leaving campus Friday morning, the three-man Dartmouth tennis squad -- consisting of David Webb '05, Andres Reyes '05 and Jeff Schechtman '08 -- arrived just in time for Webb and Reyes' 7 p.m. doubles match. Exhibiting no signs of travel weariness, the Big Green's two co-captains dominated University of Maryland, Baltimore County's Fernando Ferriera and Mike Keller 8-2.
The next morning, Schechtman -- who has proved nearly invincible at the singles level -- picked up where his teammates left off, dropping Adel Abbas of Virginia Tech on his home courts. Though Abbas pushed the talented freshman to an opening set tiebreaker, Schechtman comfortably took the second frame, winning the match 7-6, 6-3. Later that afternoon, Webb -- rebounding from a slow start -- took Penn State's Brad Hunter 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 in a match marked by only two service breaks.
Webb would return to the winner's circle a second time Saturday, though with the much appreciated aid of Reyes. Together, Dartmouth's top doubles team escaped with a dramatic victory over Ivy rivals, Ashwat Sarohia and Sratha Saengsuwarn of Princeton. Up 7-5 and serving for the match, Reyes and Webb held off four break points to take the match 8-5.
On Sunday, the Big Green's wave of success crashed upon the shores of stiff competition and fatigue. Opening the day at 8:30 a.m., the Jeff Schechtman Express was derailed by the tournament's fourth seed, Reed Hagman of Colgate, 6-4, 6-1. Webb, plagued by another sluggish first set, fell 6-4, 7-5 to St. Bonaventure's Mario Arce. Several hours later, Reyes and Webb dropped a hotly contested 8-6 match to Harvard's Jonathan Chu and Ashwin Kumar, ending any Big Green dreams of an ITA Regional title.
Though the weekend ended on a sour note, head coach Chuck Kinyon seemed decidedly pleased with his team's performance.
"It is always great to go out be tested on the skills that you have been working on and the ITA Championship was an excellent opportunity to do so," Kinyon said. "All in all, pretty good performances in singles, [and] doubles was equally successful."
"This team has been working particularly hard and it is beginning to show. I am looking forward to the Big Green Invitational on Nov. 6 to Nov. 8, when 55-plus players from all around the east will be coming to Dartmouth to play."
