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The Dartmouth
July 19, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Dartmouth tennis hosts summer invitational tourney

As is typical of the summer, Dartmouth has hosted few athletic competitions recently, but from July 14-17, collegiate tennis players from across the country descended upon Hanover to compete in the Dartmouth Intercollegiate Tennis Association Summer Tournament.

With no college tennis teams currently in season, players competed individually and not for their respective schools. In both the men's and women's brackets, Dartmouth players survived deep into the tournament, with Ari Gayer '09 reaching the semifinals in the men's tournament and Molly Scott '11 losing in the finals of the women's tournament.

Gayer, Dartmouth's top-seeded singles player and third seed overall in the tournament, cruised through the first three rounds until falling in straight sets in the semifinals, 6-1, 6-4, to the number one seed in the tournament, David Anderson of Notre Dame. Gayer surrendered only three games through the first two rounds and had not lost a set until the match with Anderson. Anderson then lost in the finals to Clemson's Ryan Young, who was unranked and needed to play a qualifying match to even enter the first round of the tournament.

"Since I was the third seed in the tournament, my goal was at least to get to the semifinals," Gayer said.

Jeffrey Friedman '10, seeded seventh in men's singles, won two grueling three-set matches before falling to Ted Kelly of Stanford, the tournament's second seed, in the quarterfinals 6-1, 6-2. Other Dartmouth men's players participating included Peter Keshtkar '11, who made it to the second round, and Matt Wang '10 and Matt Hartman '10, who both lost their first matches.

The tournament was open to college and high school tennis players, which meant that some of Dartmouth's rising freshmen players got to experience their first competition in Hanover. The incoming freshmen women in particular had an impressive debut.

Scott, ranking third in the women's singles bracket of the tournament, made a run to the finals, and Georgiana Smyser '11 was not stopped until facing Scott in the semifinals.

The semifinals in the women's singles bracket consisted of all Ivy League players, with Harvard's Lena Litvek and Yale's Stevi Petrelli playing the other semifinal match. Litvek went on to beat Scott 6-1, 6-2 in the finals.

There was greater participation in the ITA Summer Tournament among Dartmouth women than men. Jesse Adler '10, seeded seventh in the tournament, made it to the third round before falling to Alina Sullivan of Yale. Her run included three "bagels," winning three of her first four sets 6-0.

Ryan Reichel '11, though dropping in the second round of the women's singles bracket, ultimately won the backdraw, not losing a set throughout the backdraw. Ashley Mitchell '11 also dropped in the second round but reached the third round of the backdraw, her final loss being against Reichel. Jamie Caplan '09 made it to the second round, and Jennifer Murray '09 and Danielle Murray '09 each lost in the first round.

Despite the fact that the spring tennis season has well passed and fall preseason is more than a month away, Dartmouth men's and women's tennis players still have plenty of chances to compete during the summer.

"There is a summer circuit of tournaments for college players," Gayer said. "I know Cornell has one as well."

With most of the team off campus, the responsibilities of practicing and competing are left to the individual tennis players.

"I pretty much make my own schedule," Gayer said. "Since there are no other '09s on the team, I have been playing with the coach, someone at [the Tuck Business Bridge Program] and some older guys for practice."

The next ITA Summer tournament in the northeast will be held at Cornell from July 28 to 31.