The Dartmouth women's tennis team split its first four Ivy League contests, defeating Cornell and Columbia in a pair of thrilling road matches, and then dropping a pair of home tilts to Princeton and No. 59 Pennsylvania.
At Columbia and Cornell on April 8 and 9, the Big Green pulled out 4-3 wins against both conference foes, despite dropping the doubles point in both contests. The tandem of co-captain Jayme Ahmed '05 and Megan Zebroski '08 supplied the highlights for Dartmouth in doubles play, as the talented twosome toppled their opponents on both days.
In singles, the top half of the lineup " Ahmed, Lindsay Winingham '07 and Margaret Fitchet '08 " led the way for the Big Green, as the trio complied a perfect 6-0 mark on the weekend. Against Columbia, Fitchet throttled Kristine Martinez 6-2, 6-0, while Ahmed edged Milena Kachar 7-5, 6-4. In addition, Ann Scott '06 hammered Anna Varnay 6-2, 6-3.
With the match knotted at 3-3, Winingham produced a classic performance at second singles. After falling in the first set, the spectacular sophomore battled back from a deficit in the second set tiebreaker as well as in the third set to clinch the win with a 0-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 triumph.
Against Cornell, the talented trio atop the Dartmouth ladder breezed to three more wins, while Zebroski added a victory at the No. 5 position with a 6-0, 6-2 pounding of Nisha Suda.
"It was great to start the Ivy season with two solid wins," Scott said. "Lindsay played a incredibly tough match both physically and mentally against Cornell. She demonstrated her incredible competitiveness and fight to pull off the fourth point."
"Most impressive was how our captain and number one player, Jayme, really led the way with her undefeated weekend in both singles and doubles," Winingham added. "She set the tone for the rest of the team."
Dartmouth hosted Princeton and Penn this past weekend, dropping a 4-3 heartbreaker to the Tigers Friday and falling 5-2 to Penn in another agonizingly close contest Saturday.
Once again, Ahmed and Zebroski emerged victorious in doubles against Princeton behind the strength of Ahmed's pinpoint passes and Zebroski's masterful work at the net, but the Tigers captured the doubles point after winning at the second and third positions.
Ahmed, Fitchet and Scott all tamed their Tiger adversaries, but Dartmouth fell one point short of its third league victory. Ahmed rallied from a rocky first set to manhandle Jessica Seibel 6-7, 6-2, 6-0. Fitchet collected another convincing win, battering Allison Hashmall into submission in a 6-4, 6-4 triumph.
Scott supplied the third point with a straight sets win, which included a clutch second-set tiebreaker performance in which the terrific third-year erased a set point. Scott ended up taking the match by the count of 6-2, 7-6 (5).
Dartmouth could only muster one doubles win against Penn, but it came in thrilling fashion at No. 2. Winingham and Scott eliminated deficits of 2-5, 5-6, and 6-7 to eventually capture a 9-7 win.
Despite a number of gritty performances by the Big Green, Ahmed and Fitchet delivered Dartmouth's lone two victories on the day. Both players now boast undefeated singles records in Ivy League competition.
"The losses this weekend were disappointing, but we fought hard against two strong teams, and we left everything we had on the court," Maggie Suydam '08 said.
Dartmouth now stands at 12-6 on the campaign, including a 2-2 mark in conference play.
