The Jaspers dropped all six first sets to Dartmouth on Sunday in singles play but, unlike the Red Raiders of Colgate, Manhattan did not break under the added pressure of playing catch-up with the red-hot Big Green.
"Manhattan was a much stronger team," head coach Chuck Kinyon said. "They really fight hard."
Captain Dave Waslen '07 added, "Manhattan was a scrappy team, they never quit and came back strong in the second sets. They didn't let us get away with anything."
The biggest tests came for Mark Brodie '07 and Waslen at the top of the singles lineup, as both juniors had to deal with the added burden of apparent cheating by the Jasper players.
The trouble started during the middle of the second set when Brodie served up an ace, but Manhattan's Zolton Bus ruled the serve out for a fault. Both Brodie and the crowd protested, but the official who was covering the matches was not watching the incident when it occurred. The call came at a critical time for Brodie, who was trying to come back from an early deficit after winning the first set.
"Manhattan has a horrible reputation for cheating. They cheat more often and more viciously than other teams, but there's not much you can do about it," he said. "The officiating was good, they overruled when they could, but the bottom line about officiating in college tennis is that it's limited."
Brodie, determined to down his opponent, shrugged off his frustration to rally back and cap an emotional effort with a 6-4, 7-5 victory, one Kinyon labeled as "one of the better wins he's had at Dartmouth."
Waslen said he also believes there were several instances in which his opponent, Bogdan Borta, cheated the Big Green out of valuable points.
"With Manhattan, they're kind of known as a team that makes questionable calls," Waslen said. "We knew that coming into the match we would need officials on every court if possible. It's kind of annoying playing a team where you have to worry about lying on calls all the time."
The junior went on to lose the match in three sets 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
The rest of the team stepped up to meet the challenge posed by the Jaspers. Ari Gayer '09 posted a 6-3, 6-4 victory at No. 5 and Steve McGaughey '07 tallied a point with a 6-2, 7-5 win at No. 6.
Raj Shrestha '06 overcame evident frustration with his play in the first set to win an emotional tiebreaker. The senior would go on to drop the second set, and rebound to win a close match, 7-6, 0-6, 7-5.
Jeff Schechtman '08 also encountered stiffer resistance against his opponent, as he avoided two tiebreakers en route to a 7-5, 7-5 triumph at the No. 3 singles slot.
Against Colgate on Saturday, the Big Green met an opponent that presented little resistance. Dartmouth won all the first sets and never trailed during the first frame. Waslen, at No. 1, posted a 6-4, 6-1 victory while Brodie won 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2. Schechtman (6-4, 6-2), Gayer (6-2, 6-1) and Rashaad Elder-Bush '06 (6-1, 6-1) all cruised to easy victories, while McGaughey had to come from behind in the first set to force a tiebreak en route to a straight-set victory.
"It was good to come out and do what we're supposed to do," Kinyon said. "We're a level above them in terms of where we are in the season. It really gave us confidence."
"Against Colgate, I would say that it was great to shut them out and to really work hard as a team and take it as another really competitive match," said Waslen.
"We expect to beat these teams, and we hope to beat them convincingly," Brodie added.
Dartmouth set the tempo early, winning the doubles points to go up 1-0 early in both contests. The squad has garnered the last four doubles points dating back to the Big Green's contest with Army on Jan. 28.
"I'm really pleased we're playing good doubles," Kinyon said. "When you win them all, it sets you up for momentum into the singles."
For the players, the success in the doubles game is not surprising. "We're a pretty nasty doubles team, we usually try to come out strong in the beginning of matches to prove to the other team that were going to be a force to be reckoned with," Waslen said.
Brodie cited that familiarity was a key component in their success, adding that his partnership with Schechtman at the No. 2 doubles slot and the No. 1 tandem of Waslen and Steve McGaughey '07 "are the same as they were from last year."
The Big Green will look to build a three-match win streak when it returns to action against Boston College on Feb. 15 at the Boss Tennis Center. Start time is set for 6 p.m.
