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The Dartmouth
July 7, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Women's tennis drops two league matches over the weekend

After falling short of victory last weekend in two very tight matches against Columbia University and Cornell University, Dartmouth fell out of the top 75 ITA rankings last Tuesday, while Cornell managed to climb to the No. 69 spot.

In Ivy League rankings, Dartmouth is currently in last place after dropping its first four conference games with a record of 8-8 overall.

Princeton stepped onto Dartmouth courts with a split record of 2-2 after losing a game to the Quakers.

The Big Green was missing a key player over the weekend, Mary Beth Winingham '10 ,who was scheduled to play in the No. 2 doubles and as the No. 2 singles against Princeton and Penn. Winingham slipped on a sheet of ice, injuring her upper calf and knee last Thursday night while walking to her dorm after a late night of studying at Berry Library. Her injury forced five players lower in the order to move up in rotation.

"I think this weekend, having our No. 2 player out definitely had an effect on the matches; it is tough to compete under those conditions but the team did not say that they lost because we did not have our number two player," team captain Lindsay Winingham said.

The No. 2 doubles team of Lindsay Winingham '07 and Jesse Adler '10 quickly fell to Princeton 8-2, requiring Dartmouth to win the following two matches to secure the doubles point.

Things were not looking good for Dartmouth when senior captain Kerry Snow '07 and Maggie Suydam '09 in the No. 3 doubles team were down 5-0. Amazingly, Snow and Suydam were able to shift the momentum towards their favor and rally back to take the match, 8-5.

After the two split doubles matches, the doubles point came down to the No. 1 doubles team of Megan Zebroski '08 and Natalie O'Rourke '08. The pair had been up in that match 6-1 but had issues closing against junior Ivana King and freshman Melissa Saiontz. Princeton did not go out silently but clawed back to 6-5, employing an array of frustrating trick shots. The Tigers were able to tie up the game six all. The Big Green responded with gusto to take back the lead, 7-6. Dartmouth was unable to break their serve and Princeton tied up the game for the second time in the match.

Even though the tennis center was filled with fans and parents attending the tennis team's parents' weekend, a tense silence fell over the building during the extended doubles match, making it possible to hear the buzz of the lighting system before each serve. Dartmouth was finally able to break Princeton's serve after an extended see-saw match that took an hour and twenty minutes, winning 9-7.

"It was just a really exciting match, I thought Nat and I played really well together," Zebroski said. "The other girls were really strong competitors and would not give the match to us."

After waging a heroic effort for the doubles point, Dartmouth was outplayed in singles, 6-0.

The entire Dartmouth singles lineup fell to the Tigers in two sets, except for Lindsay Winingham who fought a long battle in No. 4 singles against freshman Sarah Huah. Huah took the first set 6-4, but Lindsay Winingham won the next set 6-2. By the time the two competitors were going into the third set, the match had already been decided, so the two squared off in a super tie breaker. Lindsay Winingham was not able to convert and fell 10-6 in the final match of the day.

When asked if the outcome of her match was affected by the fact that Dartmouth could not win the day, Lindsay Winingham said, "I think in tennis that you get used to it. You just need to focus on your match; it is just about me on the court."

Penn came into the Dartmouth match hot after beating Harvard on Friday 7-0 and standing as the No. 1 Ivy League team with a 3-0 record and a No. 51 ITA ranking.

Dartmouth was able to win one of the doubles matches when the No. 2 doubles, Lindsay Winingham and Adler came back from a 2-7 deficit. Once Dartmouth had climbed to 4-7, there was enough of a momentum shift to give Dartmouth the match 8-7.

That was the only match that Dartmouth would take for the remainder of the day, dropping both of the other doubles matches and losing all of the singles matches in two sets.

"Penn and Princeton are both really good teams. I was pleased with the way we competed and carried ourselves," head coach Bob Dallis said.

Dartmouth will be continuing Ivy League play next Friday at home in the Alexis Boss Tennis Center against Brown University at 3 p.m. Brown picked up two upset wins this weekend after an upset against Cornell 4-3 and clubbing Columbia 6-1.