The men's and women's tennis teams travelled to opposite coasts this spring break to pick up some match-speed practice in preparation for the upcoming Ivy League season.
The women's tennis team lost just one of five matches in a week-long trip to Florida, while the men's team lost three matches and snagged one close win over Loyola Marymount University in California.
The Big Green men (6-7, 0-0 Ivy) matched up against Utah on March 16, falling 2-5. The team had poor performances in singles play, but picked up wins in both No. 2 and No. 3 doubles.
"I think we largely lost because the other team was in better shape, which was disappointing" Mark Brodie '07 said.
The team rebounded in its next match, however, fighting its way to a close win over LMU, 4-3. All three doubles tandems picked up wins in the contest.
"[The win] shows that we can be at the top of our league" Brodie said.
The first-seeded power duo of Brodie and Jeffrey Schechtman '08 performed well in both their doubles and singles matches to clinch the close win.
Schechtman, in the sixth singles seed, picked up an easy first set and then dropped the second set 2-6. He fortunately regained his composure, however, and shut out LMU freshman Stefan Nikolic of Serbia in the third, 6-1.
The men's team dropped its final two matches, 2-5, to California Polytechnic and the University of California, Santa Barbara on March 22 and March 23, respectively.
Dartmouth's women's tennis team (11-1, 0-0 Ivy), ranked 53rd in the nation, had a successful trip to Florida racking up four victories while losing just one match-up.
The team's trip began with its first loss of the year to No. 41 University of South Florida, 0-7, on March 15. Jesse Adler '10 came close to victory, but fell in a heated third set.
"As our first loss of the season, it definitely wasn't the result we were looking for, [but] it was our first match of the break and I think we were still adjusting to the conditions," co-captain Megan Zebroski '08 said.
The Big Green regrouped and rebounded, however, with a close 4-3 win over the University of Central Florida the following day. The only doubles win came from Zeborski and Molly Scott '11 in the first doubles seed. Scott also delivered a win in the first singles seed, contributing to four of six singles wins for the Big Green.
"Coming back after a loss to win against the University of Central Florida was really big," Zebroski said.
Other victories for the Big Green women came against Coastal Carolina, 7-0, and against Iowa State, 6-1, in a doubleheader on March 19.
The team closed out a successful week with a decisive 6-1 win over Florida Atlantic last Sunday.
"We played really well. It really sent the message of how we are going to compete," Zebroski said. "I'm looking forward to [our upcoming matches against] the Ivies."
Ivy League play begins for both squads on April 4, with away matches against Columbia.
The Dartmouth men, who won just one conference contest last season against Cornell, have not won an Ivy title since 1997. The women, winless in the Ivies last year, have never garnered the Ancient Eight crown.
The men will host Amherst this Friday. The women will take on Army at home on Saturday.
