Dartmouth's men's tennis team (8-9) will open its Ivy League season on Friday in a bid to turn things around after a disappointing streak of results in the last few years. The Big Green has won only a single match against its Ivy opponents in the last three seasons -- a narrow 4-3 decision over Penn in 2004.
In his 23 years at the helm of the team, head coach Chuck Kinyon has seen it all -- from the glory of winning the Ivy title to the downfall of finishing without a win in league play. His incessant effort and guidance brought the team its first ever Ancient Eight trophy in 1993, when Dartmouth co-shared the honors with then-tennis powerhouse Harvard and Yale. History repeated itself four years later, when the Big Green and the Crimson each earned a share of the 1997 title, once again posting 8-1 records.
However, 1997 was the last season that the team was able to achieve a positive win-loss record in the Ivy League. In the last six seasons, the Dartmouth has won just four Ancient Eight matches, losing 38 and finishing without victory on four occasions.
Despite the discouraging statistics, coach Kinyon is optimistic about the team's chances in Friday's match against Columbia and Saturday's trip to Ithaca, N.Y., to face Cornell.
"The record of last year's team was disappointing, but all the matches (except Brown) were very tight," Kinyon said. "This year's group will play equally hard."
Dartmouth's men will have to go the extra mile in order to win against either opponent, as the No. 1 singles player and captain, Dave Waslen '07, will be unavailable due to a family matter, according to Kinyon.
Waslen's absence is a tough blow for the Big Green. In last year's 5-2 defeat against Cornell, the junior was responsible for one of the two Dartmouth points by defeating Nic Brunner at No. 2, 6-4, 7-5. He was also instrumental in the team's only point in a 6-1 beating by Columbia, teaming up with Steve McGaughey '07 to post an 8-5 win at No. 3 doubles.
"It's going to be really hard for me to not be with the team on the opening weekend," Waslen said. "I know that the guys will fight hard without me, but I'm sure it would have been nice if I was there to give some advice and provide some experience to the guys."
"Both teams are very solid with very experienced squads. The biggest challenge for us this weekend will be to replace the loss of our No. 1 player Dave Waslen," Kinyon said. "Despite being a bit undermanned, this group of guys will play hard and give their all."
According to Waslen, Columbia and Cornell will confront a better Big Green squad. "Our team is better than it was last year and we've worked really hard to build upon that, so I don't see any reason why we can't be at the top of the league this year."
Columbia posted a 6-1 record in the Ivy League last year, finishing second only to Brown. The Lions are 10-2 on the season and 1-0 in Ivy play after defeating Cornell 5-2 on April Fool's Day in Ithaca. The Big Red, 0-1 in the Ancient Eight, is currently 9-6 on the season and will host Harvard (4-9 overall) on Friday, the day before Dartmouth's visit.
"Penn looks to be the odds-on favorite," Kinyon said when asked about his favorite to win the Ivy League. He seems to be on the right track, as the Quakers, nationally ranked No. 50, currently hold a 13-4 record overall (1-0 Ivy) and have just extended their winning streak to 10 games with a 6-1 trashing of Princeton.
"They added a very good transfer and highly ranked freshman to their already pretty solid line-up," Dartmouth's head coach added.
Last year's Ivy League winner, No. 66 Brown, is currently 13-8 on the season but has not won in its last six games.
The weekend's games will give Dartmouth a chance to turn around its recent slide -- the team is 1-6 in its last seven matches. The Lions are 3-2 in their last five matches, recording their first two losses of the year. The Big Red, meanwhile, has lost three of its last four matches, which amounts to half of its defeats to date this season.
