Up 3-2 with two singles matches still in progress, Dartmouth needed just one win to wrap up the match, and it was Megan Zebroski '08's three-set comeback win at the No. 2 slot that sealed the deal for the Big Green.
"It feels really good to win the last point for the team, said Zebroski. "Everyone's point counts equally, but just looking up and down the court and seeing that everyone is in tight matches makes you try even harder knowing that your point could make a difference."
Not only was Zebroski playing with the weight of the team on her shoulders, but she also was playing with a little revenge in mind. This past fall at the Yale Invitational, she lost to the same Syracuse opponent, Catherine Zawadzki. And after Zawadzki captured the first set 7-5, it looked like the Yale outcome was going to be repeated. But Zebroski remembered why she lost to her the first time, corrected her mistakes and took the second and third sets convincingly, 6-1, 6-2.
"What she does really well is that you think that she'll be out of it, but she really competes even though she might not have the most energy on the court," said Zebroski. "What it really came down to was that she was a little more tired than I was in the third set so I could make a few more balls in the end."
At No. 1 singles, Lindsay Winingham '07 drew another tough opponent and fought hard before eventually losing in straight sets to Victoria Vaynberg 6-4, 6-4. Even though Winingham is only 1-2 on the season in her singles matches, head coach Bob Dallis does not believe that she is playing poorly.
Last week she lost to Sylvia Szegdi of Boston College, who has also lost to Vaynberg. So after Sunday's tight loss, Winingham should not be discounted among the elite players in the East region. As Dallis pointed out, if she had just converted in some key situations there would have been a different outcome.
"It came down to a couple of points in that match," said Dallis. "First set Lindsay is receiving at 4-5, she's up 40-love, has four game points to get it to five-all -- doesn't convert. She gets the second set to four-all, 40-15 -- doesn't convert. Well, if she converts those points you're saying, wow, it's a really great win by Lindsay, she won that match 7-5, 6-4."
In the rest of the singles action Maggie Suydam '08, playing No. 3, and Ann Scott '06 playing No. 6, both won their matches quickly, 6-3, 6-0 and 6-2, 6-3, respectively, which put Dartmouth up 3-0 in the match. Rounding out the singles scoring was Kerry Snow '07 who completed the last match of the day and won her three-setter by a score of 7-6 (7), 1-6, 6-4.
Dartmouth started the day off strong by taking the doubles point, where the team won two out of three matches. The No. 1 team of Winingham and Zebroski won by the score of 8-5, and the No. 3 team of Suydam and Snow continued their unbeaten winter season by winning 8-2.
"The team played very well, the doubles point was obviously huge and we did it right," said coach Dallis. "That's why we work so hard during doubles because even thought it's one point, it makes a big, big difference. That set a tone for the match because we're up one to nothing going into the singles."
The Big Green hopes to carry this momentum into its next match when the squad travels to the University of Minnesota on Feb. 18-19 to take on the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
But before this match is put to rest, it would only be fitting for Ann Scott '06 to put her stamp on the day's action.
"Secondary colors green and orange were in a battle today," she said. "It looks like green was the primary color of the day."
