The weekend leaves the Big Green (8-6, 0-2 Ivy) tied for seventh with Brown in the Ivy League standings at the start of its conference schedule.
The Big Green came out firing against the Lions (4-5, 1-2 Ivy) but Dartmouth ultimately let the contest slip through its fingers in a 4-3 nail biter. The team had deja vu all too soon, experiencing almost a carbon copy loss the following day to Cornell (10-2, 3-0 Ivy) in Ithaca.
The team had had already begun to fall in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's rankings from No. 63 to No. 71 last Tuesday. Dartmouth is currently the only nationally-ranked Ivy team and entered this weekend's matches with high expectations.
"I don't think our level of tennis was anything to be embarrassed about. No one should be hanging their heads," senior team captain Kerry Snow '07 said.
The inability to prevail at key moments was the theme of the weekend for the Big Green. Nevertheless, Snow was quick to not single any one player out in Dartmouth's heartbreaking losses.
"We play as a team, it does not matter who is the first or last player on the court," Snow said.
On Friday, the Big Green took to the courts with gusto at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center against Columbia, wining the doubles point by sweeping all three of the matches with similar 8-3 scores.
In singles competition, Dartmouth kept pace with the doubles wins by taking an early lead 3-1 with a pair of quick two-set wins. The first was by Jesse Adler '10 in the No. 5 match against senior Lion Anna Varnay, and Adler won 6-0, 7-5. In the No. 6 match, Jamie Caplan '09 secured Dartmouth's final point of the day, going 6-3, 6-1.
The rest of the matches did not run as smoothly. There was some controversy on the court as a number of Dartmouth's players reacted to what they believed was cheating by Columbia via unfair calls.
"I think losing to Columbia was especially hard because of how they conducted themselves on the court. It is always hard losing to someone you do no respect," Snow said.
Dartmouth dropped each of the top four matches. Megan Zebroski '08 lost in the No. 1 match 6-7, 7-5, 6-2; No. 2 singles Mary Beth Winingham '10 fell 2-6, 6-3, 6-2; Lindsay Winingham '07 in the No. 3 singles lost 7-5, 6-1 and Snow fell in the No. 4 singles spot, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.
"Friday was just a really close match. We had our opportunities and we could not finish them off," head coach Bob Dallis said.
The Big Green regrouped after Friday's game but ultimately had a duplicate outcome on the scoreboard against Cornell. Dartmouth came out strong, sweeping the doubles matches to start out with an early lead.
As they had done the day before, Dartmouth got two early singles wins with Adler in the No. 5 singles match and freshman standout Carley Markovitz '10 at the No. 6 spot snagging clutch victories.
Then in the same vein as the Columbia match, Dartmouth's top four singles players struggled and fell to the Big Red. Mary Beth Winingham, Snow and Zebroski were all defeated in two sets and left co-captain Lindsay Winingham on the court for the final match.
Lindsay Winingham's No. 4 singles match against Cornell's senior Nisha Suda perhaps best encapsulated the weekend for Dartmouth tennis.
The match went on to a decisive three sets, becoming the last contest on the court with the team score tied 3-3. The whole team was standing behind Lindsay Winingham, cheering her on during the most critical match-up of the day.
The senior came alive at the beginning of set, going 4-2. Suda, however, took the next four games, leaving Dartmouth with a searing loss in the third set, 6-4.
"I knew it was the last match and I tried to play aggressively," Lindsay Winingham said. "I played well but she came up with big shots and came out on top. It was a tough spot to be in but it was honestly fun to be in that match, to be the last one fighting."
The women's tennis team will continue Ivy League play next weekend at home on Friday, April 13, at 3 p.m. against Princeton University at the Alexis Boss Tennis Center. Princeton is one win ahead of Dartmouth in the Ivy League standings, at 1-2. The following day, Dartmouth will do battle against the University of Pennsylvania at noon. Penn is tied with Cornell atop the Ivy standings at 3-0.
