Dartmouth players won all eight singles draws and two of the four doubles draws. In addition to Dartmouth, the eight-team individual tournament also featured participants Army, Amherst, Buffalo, Niagara, Colgate, Williams and Loyola Marymount.
Dartmouth and Loyola Marymount finished the first day of the tournament undefeated. Stephen Greif '11 and David Fink '11 had impressive 6-0, 6-0 sweeps, while captain Ari Gayer '09 won his match 6-1, 6-0. Curtis Roby '11 also won 6-0, 6-3.
Day two proved to be even better for the Big Green contingent at the Shootout. In doubles play, Dartmouth took two of the four doubles brackets. Dan Freeman '10 and Chris Ho '12 won the A bracket over Army, 8-5, while Brian Song '11 and Andy Kim '10 won the D bracket.
Dartmouth also placed a player in all eight singles finals, including three freshmen.
Coaches and players were hardly surprised by Dartmouth's success.
"We expected to do this well," assistant coach Dave Jones said. "They've been working hard all fall. We expected to do better at our earlier tournaments, so it's nice to be doing so well here."
Sophomore Roby agreed.
"It's been great," he said. "I think we're the best team here, and we should be in the finals of all these draws. There's been a couple of close matches, but everyone looks like they're doing well."
The success continued on the final day for the Big Green.
In the C bracket, Curtis Roby faced off against LMU freshman Aram Abgaryan. Roby won the first set but faltered slightly in the second, which went to a thrilling 10-point tiebreak.
Down 9-8 in the tiebreak, Roby hit a forehand near the end line. Abgaryan called the ball out, which would have given him the win. Roby, along with many of his teammates watching the match, disagreed.
Ho, playing one court over, was in good position to see the play, and argued his teammate's case, as did two Army players also on the court.
"I hit a ball that he called out so if no one had been there, he would've won the match," Roby said. "Four people on his side saw it, thought it was clearly in, and his coach overruled him."
With the tiebreak at 9-9, Roby won the next two points to win the match, 6-4, 5-7 (11-9). Abgaryan, clearly frustrated, reluctantly shook hands after the match.
Roby's opponent showed much emotion throughout the match, reacting loudly to points. Earlier in the tiebreak, he had stopped a point, claiming that the ball was broken. After inspection, neither coach saw evidence of a break, and Roby took the point.
"He [Abgaryan] was just a little unorthodox, challenged a lot of calls that weren't even close," Roby said. "He's a good competitor though -- have to give that to him. He got on my nerves some times. I'm just glad I won the match."
In the G Bracket, Song defeated Army's Peter Williams, 4-6, 6-2 (10-5), while in the F bracket, Ho downed Army's Chris Albornoz, 6-3, 3-6 (10-7). The Big Green also dominated the H bracket, as Greif defeated Fink, 6-3, 7-5, in an all-Dartmouth final.
Freeman, Gayer, Andrew Malizia '12 and Michael Laser '12 completed the sweep for Dartmouth in singles play Saturday.
Winning all eight singles draws is a huge boost of confidence for the team going into the rests of the season.
"We came into preseason, worked really hard for a couple of weeks, and it's great to see all our hard work paying off," Freeman said.
The only other teams to win a draw were Loyola Marymount's doubles team of Renzo Maggi and Nick Van Der Ahe and Army's doubles team of Chris Albornez and Jordan Girdley.
The Big Green play two more tournaments this fall before the official team non-conference schedule begins in February. The prestigious Intercollegiate Tennis Association regional takes from Thursday, Oct. 16 to Tuesday, Oct. 21 in New Haven, Conn. Three or four Dartmouth players are expected to attend. The singles and doubles champions at the ITA move on to the ITA Indoor Intercollegiate Championships.
Then, from Saturday, Nov. 1 to Monday, Nov. 3, Dartmouth hosts the Big Green Invitational in Hanover.
