The Big Green women's tennis team earned a split against conference foes Brown and Yale over the weekend, toppling Brown at home 5-2 and losing a road contest to Yale 5-2.
The highlight of the Friday Brown match came from co-captain Jayme Ahmed '05, who enjoyed a historic final home match of her illustrious career. The New Jersey native won both her matches on the day, and in doing so set the all-time Dartmouth record for matches won.
In doubles, Ahmed and Megan Zebroski '08 -- who recently garnered a national doubles ranking of 60 -- won their match with ease at the No. 1 position. The Big Green benefited from Zebroski's remarkable net play combined with Ahmed's booming serves and baseline power in bowling over the top Bears tandem by the score of 8-3.
The No. 2 duo of Lindsay Winingham '07 and Ann Scott '06 clinched the doubles point for the Big Green with an 8-4 victory. Both players utilized their big first serves and knifing volleys to take an early 5-1 advantage and never looked back, cruising to an impressive triumph.
Dartmouth continued its solid play in singles, winning four of the six contests. First off the court was Winingham, as the super sophomore manhandled Alex Arlak 6-1, 6-1 at the No. 2 slot.
Ahmed then produced her history-making victory at No. 1, followed soon after by Zebroski's win that clinched the match for Dartmouth. Ahmed pounded Daisy Ames 6-1, 6-3, while Zebroski captured a tough first set before blitzing her opponent in the second frame, winning over Michelle Paulter 6-4, 6-0.
Dartmouth's final win came at No. 4, where Maggie Suydam '08 produced a clutch victory over Ashley Pariser 7-6, 6-4. In the tense first set tiebreaker, Suydam fell behind 4-5, but the fantastic freshman played a gutsy three points to take the tiebreaker 7-5.
"We were able to approach the Brown match unfazed by our tough losses last weekend, which is important in the Ivy season because of the unpredictability of match results," Ahmed said. "We are focusing on believing in ourselves and coming to each match with confidence because we are talented enough and have worked hard enough to beat any Ivy team on any given day."
"Especially impressive was how two freshmen, Megan and Maggie, came out hard to gain close first-set victories and then dominated in the second sets," Winingham added.
The Big Green faced a tough road test against Yale Sunday, and the home squad defeated Dartmouth in a hard-fought tilt. All of the Dartmouth wins came courtesy of Ahmed and Zebroski, who both emerged victorious individually in singles and together in doubles. Ahmed and Zebroski improved their record to 5-1 in Ivy League doubles competition with an 8-6 victory over Yale's No. 1 tandem of Aimee Kim and Christine Alford.
In singles, Ahmed bested Reshmi Srinath 6-3, 7-6 at No. 1. With the victory, Ahmed now stands at 6-0 in Ivy League singles play and 11-1 in all conference matches this season.
Zebroski also contributed an undefeated weekend for the Big Green after clobbering Yale's Stephanie White 6-1, 6-0. In other action, Margaret Fitchet '08 and Ann Scott '06 both fell in close three-set battles as Dartmouth nearly pulled off the road win.
Even though the Big Green came up short against Yale, the lady racketeers competed in their typically courageous manner.
"I am so proud to be a part of this team; they put their hearts in every match and fight no matter what the conditions," Ahmed said.
Dartmouth finishes its season Wednesday at Harvard at 3 p.m.
