The Big Green (8-11, 2-2 Ivy) took the important doubles point, winning two out of three doubles matches against the Quakers (1-14, 0-5 Ivy). Molly Scott '11 and Mary Beth Winingham '10 toppled the Penn duo in the No. 1 doubles position, 8-2, while Julia Zak '10 and Georgiana Smyser '11 won their match at No. 3 doubles, 8-6.
"It was an accomplishment in itself to beat Penn," Winingham said. "We haven't [defeated them] in a long time."
Co-captain Jesse Adler '10 said the team felt the need to work hard going into the weekend.
"With one weekend of Ivy matches behind us, we really had worked hard all week in practice," she said. "We knew that we were going to have great intensity and effort from every single member of the team, and we did just that."
The Dartmouth team won four out of its six singles matches, securing the win for the Big Green. In the No. 1 position, Scott easily won 6-1, 6-0, followed by a decisive 6-3, 6-0 victory by Winingham. Adler and Smyser were both defeated by their Quaker competitors in the No. 3 and No. 4 positions, respectively, but the Big Green came back in the last two single matches with wins by Ryan Reichel '11 and Carley Markovitz '10 to secure the victory.
"A lot of things, physically, mentally and emotionally are starting to fall in to place for all of us, which gives us a great shot at ending our season on a high note," Adler said.
Dartmouth hosted Princeton (16-7, 4-1 Ivy), ranked 46th in the nation, on Saturday afternoon. Although the Big Green was defeated with a final score of 6-1, the team brought energy and competition to the match, Winingham said.
"We fought hard and performed pretty well against a really strong lineup, even though results may not show it," she said.
Smyser brought home the lone win for Dartmouth on Saturday. For the first time this season, Dartmouth was swept in doubles play. Scott and Winingham lost a heartbreaking tiebreaker in the No. 1 spot, followed by an 8-4 loss from Adler and Carissa King '12 at No. 2. Zak and Smyser lost at No. 3 with a final score of 8-5.
"Princeton is a very tough team and we fought them well," Adler said. "Clearly we weren't all pleased with the outcome, but there was nothing we felt we regretted after the match."
The women's tennis team looks forward to competing against the rest of the Ivy League, Winingham said, adding that the players are working hard to perform at their highest ability.
"We still have three matches left, and all the Ivies are strong this year," she said. "We could easily go 0-3 or 3-0, so we really have to come out prepared and confident."
The Big Green will take to the road on Friday to face Yale (13-5, 4-1 Ivy) in New Haven, Conn. at 2 p.m. before returning to Hanover on Saturday to host conference leader Brown (18-3, 4-1 Ivy) at noon.
