The Big Green men's tennis team continued its regular season on Saturday, Feb. 3 with a double header, soundly defeating Stony Brook and Marist at the Alexis Boss Tennis Center in Hanover.
In the first match of the day, Dartmouth swept the Seawolves 7-0, losing only one set. The Big Green kicked things off with some solid doubles play. The first doubles tandem of Captain Dave Waslen '07 and Daniel Freeman '10, the 32nd-ranked doubles team in the country, dominated Stony Brook team of Nihal Advani and Quirijn Van Veen 8-2.
The second doubles team of Jeffrey Schechtman '08 and Steve McGaughey '07 had an easy victory over the Seawolves' team of Youssef Fassi-Fehri and Ilan Shvartz, taking the match 8-1. Ari Gayer '09 and Andy Kim '10 easily won the third doubles match 8-4 to complete the sweep of the doubles action.
The Big Green's dominance in the singles matches was equally impressive. Waslen played an impressive match, beating the Seawolves' No. 1 player Nihal Advani in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2.
Dartmouth's No.2 player, Freeman, prevailed in a tighter match against Van Veen. Freeman won the first set 6-4 before dropping the second set 2-6. Freeman came back to win the third set 6-4 to secure the set and the match. With his win, Freeman avenged an earlier season loss to Van Veen at the ITA.
Schechtman, Tzou, Gayer and McGaughey all won their singles matches in two sets, solidifying the Big Green's 7-0 victory over Stony Brook.
"It went well for all of us." said Schechtman, who played in Dartmouth's third position. "They had a couple of strong players at the top of their line up, but we were a lot deeper, which helped us out a lot."
The Big Green's 6-1 win over Marist was a more stressful victory. Marist began the day by winning the doubles point.
With Marist up 1-0 in the team score the Big Green was able to win 4 of the 6 first sets in singles. The first point for Dartmouth was won by Justin Tzou '10 who put Dartmouth even with a convincing 6-0, 6-1 victory at the No. 4 spot.
Fellow freshmen Freeman and Kim lost their first sets but were able to turn it around to win their matches in three sets. Playing in the No. 2 position, Freemen dropped the first set 2-6 but managed to win the next two sets 6-1 and 7-5.
"A couple of the matches came down to the third set, and we really had to fight to win," Schechtman said of Dartmouth's tight singles matches against Marist.
In Dartmouth's top position, Waslen needed all three sets to defeat Genovese. Walsen convincingly took the first set 6-1, but then lost the second set 7-6. He came back to win the third set 6-2 and claim a point for Dartmouth.
Schechtman and McGaughey played very well in their straight-set wins and rounded out Dartmouth's victories in the singles matches and a successful day for Big Green tennis.
The next match for the Green will be 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 7 when they face the Boston College Eagles at the Boss/Gordon Tennis Center.
Schechtman is looking forward to Wednesday's matches. "We've played them the last couple of years and won, and I think we are a lot stronger this year," Schechtman said.
The Big Green will begin conference matches on Friday, April 6 when it faces Columbia in Hanover.
