Dartmouth's women's tennis team beat Albany 6-1 and swept Stony Brook 7-0 in the Alexis-Boss Tennis Center Saturday. All members of the women's tennis team had a chance to play in one of the double headers Saturday, demonstrating the team's abundance of formidable players.
The Big Green took the court with momentum after its Thursday, Feb. 1 domination of a scrimmage with Harvard. Dartmouth took nine of the 13 matches against the four-time defending Ivy League champions who are currently the No. 22-ranked women's tennis team in the country.
For the second week in a row, the Dartmouth women took on a small team that was forced to default. With only a five-woman roster, Albany could only play two doubles teams, giving Dartmouth a match towards the doubles point and a free singles point.
Senior captains, Lindsay Winingham '07 and Kerry Snow '07 sealed the doubles point winning 8-1 over the Great Danes' top players, juniors Christina Suarez and Aimee Kern.
"Kerry and I have found our rhythm; We played well against Harvard in our scrimmage," Lindsay Winingham said.
Natalie O'Rourke '08 and Julia Zak '10 made the forfeit irrelevant, beating Albany's junior Amanda Hall and freshman Kim Weltman, 8-1.
"We had a new combination in doubles. It was good to try something different. It shows the depth that we have, we can change partners and it still works," O'Rourke said.
Zak, the only walk-on on the team, played in her first collegiate doubles match and singles matches.
"It felt really good. It was really nice to be out there, knowing I was playing for a team. These matches make it all worth it," Zak said.
In singles play, Dartmouth dominated, winning four of the five matches played.
Dartmouth's first win of the day was quickly executed by Kerry Snow over Suarez, 6-2, 6-0.
Danielle Murray '09 in the No. 4 singles quickly followed Snow, beating Hall, 6-1, 6-2.
In the No. 1 singles match, Lindsay Winingham defeated Kern, 6-4, 6-2.
"The first set I was hitting my forehand very well," Lindsay Winingham said. "In my second set, I stepped into the court and played a lot more aggressively against her." Zak played in the No. 5 singles spot against Kim Westcott, defeating the Great Dane, 6-3, 6-2.
The only matchup Dartmouth did not win was that of Jennifer Murray '09. In the longest singles contest of the match, she lost to the consistent Kim Weltman, 7-6, 6-2.
"We gave some of the players that maybe had not had a ton of playing time a chance to play. It showed that our depth is really good, everyone on the team is really good," head coach Bob Dallis said.
The Big Green started the second game of the day at about 6:30 p.m. and played until 9:30 p.m. concluding a long day at the courts with a complete 7-0 victory over the Stony Brook Seawolves.
We had two teams out there today and won convincingly. We had good team dynamics, no one complained even though we were playing all day," Snow said.
The only match that Dartmouth did not win against Stony Brook was the No. 1 doubles match, teaming up Mary Beth Winingham '10 and Megan Zebroski '08 against Stony Brook's freshman Claudia Sanua and junior Sandy Wijeratne.
"We could not get a rhythm. Meg was not feeling good. It was not really our day, we were not executing our usual patterns very well," Mary Beth Winingham said.
Jamie Caplan '09 and Carley Markovitz '10 decisively toppled Stony Brook's sophomore Federgreen and freshman Paola Rodolfi from Paraguay, 8-1.
Catja Carrell '08 and Maggie Suydam '08 took it to the Seawolves, beating junior Victoria Vovsha and freshman Shaina Murugan, 8-3. Markovitz decimated Vovsha in the No. 5 singles match, earning herself the double bagel, 6-0, 6-0.
The first singles win of the night was Lindsay Winingham's. She took the victory very quickly, as Wijeratne defaulted after being hammered in the first set, 6-1.
"It was nice that it was the second match of the day. I came out executing the shots right away. I felt that I hit my stride in the last match," Lindsay Winingham said.
In the No. 1 singles match, Mary Beth Winingham defeated Sanua, 6-3, 6-1.
"It took me a while to get the rhythm. Once I got into the mind set, I played pretty well," Mary Beth Winingham said.
Caplan saw Federgreen for a second time in singles play and battled out a hard-hitting game against her, prevailing over the Seawolf 6-1, 6-4.
"Stony Brook was a very impressive performance for us. Stony Brook is pretty good, [and] we beat them very quickly and very badly," Dallis said.
The Dartmouth women's tennis team will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 17 at Davidson College in North Carolina.
