The Dartmouth men's tennis team extended its winning streak to nine games, stretching back to the beginning of January, by beating Army and Boston University this weekend. On Friday, March 2 in the Alexis Boss Tennis Center, Dartmouth snuffed Army 6-1 and swept BU 7-0 on the following day.
Friday night's match against Army was the bigger win of the weekend for Dartmouth (9-0) and provided redemption for Dartmouth team captain David Waslen '07. Last year against Army, Waslen won his first set against John Houghton 6-3 but lost the next two 6-4, 6-4.
Waslen was able to channel his past frustration with last year's match, beating Houghton 6-4 in the first set before steamrolling the Black Knight 6-1 in the second.
"I was able to get some sweet revenge," Waslen said. "It felt good."
Dartmouth's only singles player who did not win a match point, allowing Army to dodge a shutout, was Justin Tzou '10. Tzou had been having wrist problems going into the match and rested the majority of the week, only participating in one practice.
The Big Green was able to secure three more singles points in two sets. Jeffrey Schechtman '08 won at No. 3 singles 6-0, 6-2, Steven McGaughey '07 won at No. 6 singles going 6-2, 6-1, and Ari Gayer '09 earned a double bagel at No. 5, cruising 6-0, 6-0.
Dan Freeman '10 had to contend with the tough Michael Good for his singles point at the No. 2 spot, going 6-1, 1-6, 6-1.
"He had some really good wins, he was confident going into the match and I had to beat him, he was not going to give it away," Freeman said.
Dartmouth secured the doubles point against Army with the No. 1 doubles team of Waslen and Freeman defeating Army 8-5 and No. 3 doubles winning 8-6 over Army. However, the No. 2 doubles team of Schechtman and McGaughey fell to Army, 8-4.
"We came out hot, they were gunning for us from the beginning," Waslen said of his doubles match. "They wanted to come into our house and steal one away from us. We were ready for them and made sure that we did not lose our focus and seal the deal like we had to."
While team captain Waslen was happy with how the doubles teams performed against Army, soft spoken coach Chuck Kinyon did not share his enthusiasm.
"[Doubles] was a little sloppy, I was disappointed at how we played, particularly at number two, Jeff and Steve have been playing well," Kinyon said.
The following day Kinyon got the results he was looking for out of Schechtman and McGaughey, as the pair bested BU's No. 1 doubles team 8-3.
It was clear going into the match that BU would be no match for the Big Green, so Dartmouth decided to rest some of its top players and allow more players to compete by changing the lineup and playing a few pick-up matches.
Dartmouth swept the BU doubles teams even after dropping its normal No. 1 doubles team of Waslen and Freeman and promoting Schechtman and McGaughey. Gayer and Andy Kim '10 rose to No. 2 doubles for the day and won 8-4. In No. 3 doubles, the team of Tzou and David Steinberg '08 won 8-5.
The Big Green secured each of the singles points in two sets.
Jeffrey Friedman '10 filled in at the No. 5 singles and easily defeated senior Ross Lohr 6-1, 6-2.
In the No. 6 singles, Kim won 6-2, 6-0 against sophomore Tim Sichler.
"BU is not as quite as strong as Army. It was a good opportunity for both Justin and David to get some match experience. We moved two spots in the lineup and Jeff Friedman and Andy Kim played five and six. In tennis, when you are just a little better than the other team, up and down it can make it look very one-sided," Kinyon said.
In exhibition play, BU brought 10 players and gave every Dartmouth player a chance to play. Dartmouth's freshmen, Charlie Dunn, Ryan Smith and Matt Hartman were able to win all of their matches, adding to Dartmouth's complete victory over the Terriers.
After going 9-0, Dartmouth is eager to see how it is ranked.
"We are hoping to get in top-70 rankings in country," Kinyon said. "It will be interesting to see how the computer ranks us. The computer likes 9-0 teams. Now the trick is to hold it together. Last year we were doing well at this time and hit a few bumps in the road."
The men's tennis team will be spending its spring break playing matches in sunny Southern California. They will be playing the No. 65 team, the University of Iowa on Saturday, March 17, at noon at the LaJolla Beach and Tennis Club in San Diego County. They will play the No. 73 University of Utah the following day at the same time and place. On Wednesday, March 21, Dartmouth will play Loyola Marymount University on LMU's home court at 1:30 p.m, and on Saturday, March 23 Dartmouth will be taking on the Cal State San Louis Obispo Mustangs at San Louis Obispo at noon. They will then head south the following day for their last Californian match to Santa Barbra to take on the University of California Santa Barbra at noon on March 25.
Dartmouth's last non-Ivy match will be against Williams in the Alexis Boss Tennis Center on Friday March 30 at 3 p.m before the squad begins Ivy League play against No. 74 Columbia University in April.