Dartmouth men's and women's tennis teams appear to be starting off on the right foot for upcoming Ivy League match ups following decisive wins for both squads in their last non-conference matches at home.
The Big Green men (7-7, 0-0 Ivy) defeated Division III rival Amherst, 7-0. The women, ranked 51st in the nation, added yet another win to their nearly flawless record, sweeping Army, 7-0.
The Dartmouth women's side (12-1, 0-0 Ivy) easily dominated Army (17-6, 1-0 Patriot), giving the Knights their second consecutive loss after coming off a nine-game winning streak.
"On paper, we did expect to win, but in the past we've had a lot of trouble with this first match coming out of spring break, so we took this one really seriously," co-captain Megan Zebroski '08 said.
Zebroski and Molly Scott '11 fought their way to an 8-6 victory in the team's first doubles seed, while the No. 3 doubles duo of Maggie Suydam '08 and Georgiana Smyser '11 easily downed their competition 8-1.
Scott continued to fight out a solid three set match for Dartmouth in the No. 1 singles spot, posting a 6-7, 6-1, 10-3 victory.
Zebroski gave up only three games in the second singles seed. Smyser dropped just two games to Knight's freshman Caitlin Finnegan in the fifth singles spot.
Mary Beth Winingham '10 lost only one game to her Army opponent, junior Sarah Giles-Madden, in the third singles spot following an 8-5 win with partner Jesse Adler '10 in the second doubles seed.
The win solidifies the Big Green women's first ranked position entering Ivy League matches, which will begin this weekend.
"I think we've been working really hard, and the attitude we've been presenting on the court really shows our confidence, and confidence is so important in the Ivy [matches]," Zebroski said.
The Dartmouth men delivered an impressive win over Amherst (5-3, 0-0 NESCAC) on Friday. Amherst, ranked eleventh in Division III, was unable to win even one set all match.
Co-captains and No. 1 doubles partners Mark Brodie '07 and Jeffrey Schechtman '08 lost only nine games in their combined matches.
Brodie picked up an easy win at No. 1 singles, and Schechtman delivered a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 5.
The Big Green never allowed Amherst to win more than three games in a set or more than four games in a match in singles play.
Daniel Freeman '10 and Ari Gayer '09 defeated Amherst's No. 2 doubles team, sophomore Dan Kim and junior Zack Lerner, in a close match 8-6. Freeman at No. 2 singles and Gayer at No. 4 singles each lost only four games between the two.
Both the men's and women's teams will look to buck the trend set over the last couple of seasons, where the Big Green enjoyed success against non-league foes before struggling against Ancient Eight competition. The last time a Dartmouth team won an Ivy title in tennis was in 1997, when the men's side captured the crown.
Zebroski was optimistic about what the women's team's stellar match performances might mean for its success in the Ivy League, but noted that they are no easy matchups against teams like Harvard, Penn and Brown.
"All of the teams in Ivy, they're tough matches," Zebroski said, "Really each one can go any way on any given day, and hopefully things go well for us."
The women will face Columbia at home this weekend while the men take on the Lions in New York City.
