However, all of that frustration was put in the past as the Big Green women picked up their first Ivy League victory of the season on Friday winning 5-2 against Brown in Providence, R.I. Unfortunately they were not able to make it two wins in a row, losing to Yale at home on Sunday 5-2 in the Boss Tennis Center.
"It was really nice to get rewarded for our hard work with the win," said senior co-captain Ann Scott. "We have lost a lot of close matches but everyone has had a really good attitude all year."
The Big Green was able to start the Brown match on a high note by capturing the doubles point with wins at Nos.1 and 2.
The top pair of Megan Zebroski '08 and Natalie O'Rourke '08 continued to demonstrate strong play with an 8-6 win. At the second slot, Lindsay Winingham '07 and Kerry Snow '07 played to an easy 8-4 win.
"The doubles point is always huge because when we win the doubles point we usually go on to win the match," said Winingham.
The Big Green never let up once singles rolled around. Dartmouth's ace Zebroski posted a quick win against Brown's No. 1, taking both sets 6-4.
At No. 2 singles, Winingham, who has been battling with a wrist injury all spring, got back to her old ways in Providence. According to Winingham, when she led 3-0 her opponent screamed out with frustration, "This girl is treeing out of her mind." In tennis, if players are said to be "treeing" it means that they are playing a lot better than they actually are.
While many players may have been offended and rattled by the comment, Winingham said that it actually got her more pumped up as she cruised to a first set 6-1 victory.
Her opponent would come back to capture the second set 5-7, but Winingham would not be denied, winning the final set 4-3(7).
Head coach Bob Dallis has been very impressed with the way Winningham has played through her injury and was excited to see her get the win.
"She's playing with one hand and she hasn't made one excuse about it," Dallis said. "She says "I'm getting to play, I'm still a good player, and I can use my other tools.'"
Snow completed the sweep of the top three spots by winning her match 6-2, 6-2, pushing her singles record in Ivy matches to 4-1. Scott picked up Dartmouth's fifth point by defeating Sarah Mansur, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
On Sunday Dartmouth came out on fire and won the doubles point convincingly. Zebroski and O'Rourke went 2-0 on the weekend by winning 8-3, and the No. 2 team of Winingham and Snow were also perfect on the weekend with their 8-2 win.
"We won the doubles point pretty easily," said Winingham. "After winning it so convincingly we said to ourselves: ok they're not out of our league, we can play with them.'"
However, Yale (8-9, 3-3) took control in singles play and won five of the six matches for the overall victory.
The lone Big Green win came from Scott when she put away an overhead slam to win her match 3-6, 7-5, 7-5.
"It was a revenge match for me," said Scott. "I went to high school with [Christina Cutter] and we're friends but there was a personal motivation to win that match. It was the coming full circle of my tennis career."
Dartmouth's next and final match of the season will be on Tuesday against Harvard at 3 p.m. For Scott and Katie Jaxheimer '06, the other senior co-captain, it will be their last collegiate match.
"The thing that's special about Ann and Katie is how genuinely nice people they are," said coach Dallis. "For four years they have cared about everyone on the team and everything about them... they certainly represent Dartmouth in a first class way."
