Dartmouth men's tennis found success this weekend at the ITA Northeast Regional Championship held at the Boss Tennis Center.
Dan Freeman '10 and Michael Laser '12 qualified in singles and made it to the third round in doubles. Co-captains Curtis Roby '11 and Jeff Friedman '11 also competed Saturday, the second day of the tournament.
Although no Dartmouth athletes advanced to Monday or Tuesday's matches, the tournament may serve as a good indicator for the team's upcoming season and give Dartmouth an idea of where it stands, Freeman said.
Last year, Columbia was first at the Ivy League championship. Dartmouth upset Columbia in multiple matches this weekend.
"We beat the 10th best team in the region, which was Columbia's No. 1 team," Freeman said. "We did a great job taking down Columbia. They have the No. 1 and the No. 3 players in the region."
The Big Green's performance against Columbia this weekend is impressive considering the Lions' wealth of experienced players, Friedman said.
"Whenever we played Columbia, we beat them," Friedman said. "Columbia only lost one guy, so they're just as strong as last year."
Friedman defeated Cornell's No. 4 player on Saturday in three sets in a singles match.
"The attitude is really positive and [we're] working really hard, and everyone believes that they can do really well," Friedman said. "We were not supposed to do that well, but we pulled off a lot of upsets."
Freeman had a particularly exciting showing at the championship, defeating Columbia's John Wong Sunday morning before losing to Cornell's Andy Gauthier in the round of 16. Wong was the top seed in the tournament, as well as the No. 1 player in the region.
"I'm playing the best I ever have," Freeman said. "Today's match was easily the best match of my collegiate career, and probably my life."
Freeman's strong play this weekend surprised even him, as he never predicted a victory over the top seed, he said.
"I think I should've gotten as far as I did, but beating him [Wong] was not expected," Freeman said.
After defeating Wong, Freeman lost the second match against Gauthier, who had defeated Laser in an earlier match.
Freeman and doubles partner Laser advanced to play on Sunday as well.
"We made it the furthest out of everyone on the doubles, and we lost a nail-biter 9-8 to Brown's No. 1 team," Freeman said. "We had a phenomenal tournament."
These performances from the Big Green's experienced players were highlighted by strong play from rookies early on in the tournament.
The duo of Kevin Cox '13 and Alex De Chatellus '13 fought through a tough tiebreaker on Friday to win their match 9-8. The duo then fell in the second round 8-2 to a pair from St. John's University.
Laser noted that the tournament gave the team increased optimism for the rest of their competition this year.
"Our coach said that we had the best showing at ITA in years, and I'd agree," Laser said. "Everybody is really showing their hard work. We're ready to win and we have a new mentality."
Freeman added that this kind of consistent success could make Dartmouth a threat in upcoming matches.
"If we keep this up as a team, then we'll be tough to beat later on in the year," Freeman said.
The Big Green's next competition is set for the Harvard Invitational, Oct. 30 through Nov.w 1, in Cambridge, Mass.
