These two Dartmouth standouts, however, have achieved a rare feat both have qualified to play at the Rivieria/ITA Women's All-American Championships in California in October.
Winingham and Scott seem to have the best of both worlds as both individual players and as doubles competitive drive paired with a strong friendship.
"Our styles complement each other well," Scott said.
"The way we interact is that we have fun on the court you'll see us laughing between points," Winingham said. "We're obviously serious too, but if we have fun and relax, it brings out the best in both of us."
Women's tennis head coach Robert Dallis agrees.
"They do a good job in reading each other ... now that they've been playing since last January," he said. "[Winingham] is really quick and [Scott] has very accurate ground strokes."
Scott and Winingham pre-qualified as a doubles pair, which is determined from regional rankings from the past season. Scott also qualified for the singles tournament, while Winingham pre-qualified for singles play.
The two athletes said they are excited to compete at such a high level in the fall season, giving them a change of pace from the usual tennis schedule.
"Basically from the East region from Virginia to Penn State to Maine, in singles, eight girls made the tournament, and four [doubles] teams made the tournament," he said. "It's definitely a pretty good accomplishment."
Scott, a California native, is also happy that she'll be able to have a cheering section at the tournament.
Her parents, who are both Dartmouth alums, will be able to watch the matches in their home state.
"It's a really exciting experience, to compete against the best players in the nation," Scott said.
Tennis has always been a major component of both Scott and Winingham's lives, as each started playing at a young age and grew up with a racket in hand. Winingham's older sister, Lindsay Winingham '07, also played tennis for the Big Green she was a senior on the team while Mary Beth was a freshman.
Winingham's younger brother plays tennis for Bowdoin, and her younger sister is a high school senior who also hopes to play tennis at the college level.
Scott and Winingham credit the bulk of their success to the long hours they've logged on the court.
"Tennis takes up a lot of time, we have practice almost every day of the week fall, winter and spring but we've all learned to balance our schedules well," Winingham said.
Scott added that despite the level of commitment, both women gain a lot of enjoyment from playing for Big Green tennis.
"Being on the team here is a privilege," Scott said.
While both girls are excited to compete at the All-American level, they also have this year's season on their minds, Winingham said, adding that this competition will also do a great deal to help them prepare for the spring season.
Winingham's final season at Dartmouth will also be her last year of playing tennis competitively, as she hopes to pursue clinical psychology after college, she said.
Scott also plans to hang up her racket after college.
"[Dartmouth is] unique among other Ivies," she said.
Both Scott and Winingham said that Dallis' coaching style also won them over in their choice to play for the Big Green.
"[Dallis'] ability to know us so well, his dedication to the team getting along ... is why we do so well," Winingham said. "One of his strong points is how to think mentally compared to other coaches."
For the upcoming season, both athletes are setting their sights on winning first-team All-Ivy doubles. Last year, Scott herself was first-team All-Ivy in singles.
Dallis expressed his hope for his team this year as well, and believes the team is in contention to win the Ivy title after ending up in fifth place in the conference last year.
As college tennis is a team sport, however, Scott and Winingham won't be able to do it all alone.
They will have to rely on a strong supporting cast to bring the team to a higher finish in the Ivy League.
Scott and Winingham will begin competition in Pacific Palisades, Calif., beginning on Oct. 3.
