"Coming into the match, we were not going to be taken lightly," captain Dave Waslen '07 said. "Even though we were expecting a tough, close match, it was great for us to do well and wipe them out."
While coach Chuck Kinyon was not totally satisfied with the victory, he was pleased with the tenacity of his squad's performance against a young, feisty BC squad. "I don't think we played particularly well, but we played tough and well under pressure," he said.
Dartmouth grabbed an early lead by sweeping the opening doubles matches, which Kinyon called "one of our better performances." The shutout improved the Big Green to a perfect 5-0 in doubles play on the spring season.
Waslen and Steve McGaughey '07 posted a close 8-6 win at No. 1 doubles, while Jeff Schechtman '08 and Mark Brodie '07 won the No. 2 match 8-5. Rashaad Elder-Bush '06 and Ari Gayer '09 recorded a convincing 8-3 victory against their BC counterparts.
However, a quick 1-0 lead did not deter Boston College, as the Eagles gave the Big Green stiff competition in the singles slate. The Eagles had previously beaten Manhattan on Feb. 4, defeating the same Jaspers squad that tested Dartmouth's singles play less than two weeks ago. BC also boasted junior Soma Kesthley in the lineup, who came into the match undefeated in singles play.
In the No. 1 singles match, Waslen was up to Kesthley's challenge as the Big Green captain held off early pressure by the Hungarian in the first set to force a tiebreaker. The tiebreak went to Waslen, and despite falling behind again in the second set, the junior from Alberta, Canada, eventually took the match 7-6, 6-4.
After the match, Waslen stressed that the key to victory is the ability to not be fazed by an opponent's prior success. "He [Kesthley] was on a hot streak. It was important to just take thing point by point, game by game and make sure to give it everything you have," he said. "We all just have confidence in ourselves, and with that we believe we can win any match."
The difficulty for the Big Green came at No. 2, where Brodie could not get any momentum started against BC's Jason Sechrist in his first contest after an outstanding match against Zolton Bus of Manhattan on Feb. 5. Playing with a wrap on his right forearm, Brodie appeared to mount a comeback after quickly falling behind 3-0 in the first set. However, Brodie could only close the gap to a 3-2 margin, as Sechrist stormed back to take the first set. Sechrist, who made several crucial shots throughout the match to keep points alive, cruised in the second set to win 6-3, 6-2.
Kinyon declined to comment on the nature of the injury, but admitted that it affected Brodie's ability to compete at full strength. "He had some problems serving and really hurt his chances to win," Kinyon said.
The road to victory was not easy for McGaughey and Gayer, who each battled through tiebreakers to seal their straight-set victories. Playing at No. 4, Gayer would need the deciding frame in the second set to down Alex Rastorgouev 6-3, 7-6. McGaughey, down for most of the first set at No. 5, won two straight points to go up 6-5, but BC's Sam Wagner forced the tiebreak after winning the subsequent point. McGaughey took the first set and then controlled the second set to win the match 7-6, 6-3.
"For our players, we're getting to a point where we're starting to believe a little more," Kinyon said. "This year, we have more confidence with our fitness and our capacity to win the big points. As for the other team, when you're up a break and you lose it and then go to a tiebreaker and lose that, that can hurt the other team and we did that quite well."
Schechtman and Elder-Bush, playing No. 3 and No. 6 singles respectively, had no trouble dispatching their BC counterparts. Schechtman brushed aside Brian Hartness 6-3, 6-3, while Elder-Bush made quick work of Michael Reiser 6-4, 6-3 en route to posting the first singles point for Dartmouth.
The Big Green men will look to turn their home stand into a five-match win streak when they host Stony Brook University at noon and the University of Connecticut at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25 at the Boss Tennis Center.
