Stephen Greif '11 said that, despite the Big Green's disappointing record, the team had a positive attitude going into the match against Harvard.
"We knew we had nothing to lose, especially given our Ivy record," he said. "We looked at it as a good opportunity."
Dartmouth (4-17, 0-7 Ivy) came out strong in doubles play, winning two out of the three matches to take the point, and providing a glimmer of hope for an upset of the 64th-ranked Crimson (13-9, 5-2 Ivy).
While the No. 1 team of Greif and Michael Laser '12 put up little resistance to Harvard's Chris Clayton and Alexei Chijoff-Evans, Dan Freeman '10 and Justin Tzou '10 won at the No. 3, putting all the pressure on the deciding No. 2 doubles match.
Curtis Roby '11 and Ari Gayer '09 responded to the challenge, defeating Harvard's No. 2 doubles tandem of Sasha Ermakov and Aba Omodele-Lucien.
Up 7-6 in the set and serving for the match, Roby and Gayer played strongly out of a 15-40 hole to bring the game to deuce. Then, Roby slid a serve out wide for an ace, surprising Harvard's Omodele-Lucien.
At match point, Gayer, having just sustained a crushing low blow from a ball that nicked the net cord, persevered and finished off a high backhand volley to give Dartmouth a 1-0 advantage going into the singles matches.
The Big Green could not keep up the momentum from doubles play and lost every singles match, winning only one more set in the contest.
Gayer, playing in his final collegiate competition, took part in the closest singles match of the day. After losing the first set, he came back to grind out the second set and force the Crimson's Davis Mangham to a third-set super tiebreaker.
Gayer defended just well enough to keep the tiebreaker close and, at 6-8 down, had a terrific opportunity to push the score even closer. However, Mangham, having just fluffed up a sitter to Gayer's forehand side, guessed correctly, and volleyed back what should have been an easy Gayer winner into open court -- much to the disappointment of the Dartmouth team and fans, who had all converged to watch the final match of the day.
Mangham, playing on the baseline for most of the contest, imposed his powerful game in the final points to control play and win, 10-7, giving him the match, 6-3, 1-6, (10-7).
Freeman, playing No. 1 singles, served well in the first set, and pushed the nation's 76th-ranked individual player, Chris Clayton, to 6-6.
Unfortunately, Freeman, who was still recovering from a stomach flu, cramped up and was forced to retire, squashing any hopes of an electrifying upset.
Justin Tzou, playing No. 4 singles, played more consistently after a sloppy first set, massaging angled forehands cross-court and pushing Harvard's Omodele-Lucien to a second-set tiebreaker.
Down 0-1 in the tiebreaker, Tzou missed an easy forehand passing shot down the line that seemed to give his opponent extra confidence for the rest of the match. Down the stretch, Omodele-Lucien hit a series of massive down-the-line running backhands to win, 6-3, 7-6.
At No. 2 singles, Greif pushed heavy favorite Chijoff-Evans before falling, 6-4, 6-4.
Both players held serve until late in both sets, but Chijoff-Evans was more aggressive on the biggest points, taking advantage of second-serve returns and moving forward often.
"[Chijoff-Evans] has a very aggressive game, and I knew I would have to defend well and keep him off the net to beat him," Greif said. "Unfortunately, I wasn't quite able to come up with the big shots on the right points."
The other two matches were never really in question, as Sasha Ermakov, a top-ten player in the junior tournament circuit, defeated Roby, 6-3, 6-2 at No. 3 singles, and Alistair Felton beat Laser, 6-2, 6-3.
Overall, the Harvard team played much more aggressively than the Big Green, jumping on short balls and using superior spin and pace to dictate play.
While the 2008-2009 season didn't turn out the way most Dartmouth players hoped, prospects look good for significant improvement next year.
Returning five of six starters and bringing in a 20-year-old South African who is believed by some to be one of the nation's top recruits, next year's team has the potential to be impressive.
"I think we will definitely contend for an Ivy title," Greif said.
