The No. 72 Big Green women (14-3, 2-2 Ivy) followed up a loss to Princeton (10-8, 3-2 Ivy) on Friday with a defeat to No. 69 University of Pennsylvania (9-7, 4-1 Ivy), both by scores of 5-2.
Although Dartmouth still has the best overall record in the conference, the Big Green women now have an uphill battle for the Ivy League crown.
Since the Big Green was not able to parlay excellent results in non-conference play into conference success, conference losses cause unease. Last year, Dartmouth was unable to secure a single Ivy win despite its promising non-conference record.
Dartmouth was edged out by Princeton for its first Ivy loss and only second loss of the season, 5-2, in an outdoor match that continued late under the lights.
The Big Green women found they were unable to convert after pushing four of their six singles matches to the third set. Only one of those four matches delivered a point for Dartmouth.
Tri-captain Megan Zebroski '08 lamented the fact that the Big Green was not able to pull out the close matches.
"I feel like the Princeton match could have gone either way," Zebroski said "The teams were really evenly matched and those close ones just didn't go our way."
The No. 1 doubles pair of Zebroski and Molly Scott '11, which has previously had consistent success during the season, was edged out by the Tigers in a tiebreaker, 9-8.
Scott enacted some revenge on the Tigers in her No. 1 singles match, winning, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4. Scott edged out Princeton sophomore Melissa Saiontz in the third set after a rally by Saiontz in the second set.
The No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams also fell in close matches, losing 8-5 and 8-6, respectively.
Jesse Adler '10 returned from her No. 2 doubles loss to earn the only other win for the Big Green, defeating the Tigers' Rebecca Parks soundly, 6-3, 6-2, at No. 4 singles.
Mary Beth Winningham '10 at No. 3 singles, Carley Markovitz '10 at No. 5 singles and Ryan Reichel '11 at No. 6 singles were all denied points for the Big Green's team score in close matches that went to the third set.
Dartmouth's struggles continued the next day against a strong Quaker squad.
Zebroski had noted in a interview prior to this weekend's matches that Penn along with Yale appeared "very strong" in the league this season.
Her prediction proved correct as the weekend's wins launches Penn into second place in the Ivy League behind undefeated Yale (9-8, 5-0 Ivy).
In doubles, Winningham and Adler delivered the only win for the Big Green, 8-4. The No. 1 doubles and No. 3 doubles were soundly defeated by the Quakers.
No. 1 doubles pair of Zebroski and Scott was defeated by the nation's No. 27 team 8-3, and tri-captain Maggie Suydam '08 and Georgiana Smyser '11 were routed, 8-2, in the third double pairing.
In singles, Scott started tough against the nation's 117th-ranked player, sophomore Kate Kosminskaya, by picking up the first set, 6-1. However, Kosminskya stormed back to defeat Scott, 6-2, 6-2, in the latter frames.
At No. 3 singles, Winningham continued her solid match play to deliver one of the only two points earned by Dartmouth in a hard fought win when Penn's senior Julia Koulbitskaya retired in the third set.
Smyser trounced her competition at No. 5 singles, 6-3, 6-1, to deliver the other point for the Big Green.
"Of course it's a little disappointing to have these losses back to back," Zebroski said. "But hopefully we can turn this around next weekend. I don't think people are giving up on the season by any means."
The Big Green women return to action in Providence, R.I. on Friday for a match against Brown. The Bears are currently last in the Ivy League, as they have yet to notch a conference win.
