After securing the doubles point, the Dartmouth men's tennis team dropped the top four singles spots to Boston College on Tuesday, ultimately losing 3-4.
Alex Centenari '13 and Chris Ho '12 closed off the match with individual victories, but the wins were not enough to help the Big Green (6-3, 0-0 Ivy) overcome the Eagles (4-5, 0-4 ACC) in what the players deemed a "hostile" match.
"We fought hard but we weren't able to pull through," Michael Laser '12 said. "The teams were not very friendly and it was really intense."
Most of the match's intensity stemmed from the close score in many of the matches throughout the majority of the day. Dartmouth was within reach of the elusive victory until Captain Curtis Roby '11 lost an exhausting three-set tiebreaker to Jonathan Schroeder 2-6, 6-1, 7-6.
"We definitely were not best friends before we played the match, but the match was very close and very heated," Laser said. "It got very intense with the fans off the court and the guys on the court."
Dartmouth started the afternoon off slowly. The top doubles team of Dan Freeman '10 and Laser lost to BC's Thomas Nolan and Erik Kreutzer, 8-3. The duo of Nolan and Kreutzer was ranked 21st in the nation prior to the match.
The doubles team of Ho and Alex de Chatellus '13 lost a break early when BC won a game that Dartmouth was serving. Because of the shorter format of doubles matches, this can often lead to a loss.
Ho and de Chatellus overcame the early loss, however, and rallied to win the match, 8-6. The victory turned the momentum in the Big Green's favor.
"There was a lot of yelling, and it seemed like there was a lot bad blood between our players," Ho said.
Rounding out the doubles portion, Dartmouth's second duo of Roby and Stephen Greif '11 went up a break early in the match. The duo persevered despite a tough fight by the Eagles, winning the match 8-6 and securing the doubles point for Dartmouth.
After the doubles matches, BC gained control of the match. Freeman and Laser lost their matches at the top two spots, giving the Eagles a 2-1 advantage.
Laser's opponent, freshman Akash Muppidi, is the first Eagle to be ranked by the ITA, holding strong nationally at No. 76.
Freshman standout Centenari managed to tie the match at 2-2 with a straight-set victory at the fifth spot, but BC quickly regained the lead with a victory over Greif at the third spot.
With only Roby and Ho left to play at the fourth and sixth spots, respectively, Dartmouth needed victories in both matches which futher intensified the atmosphere.
"It was probably the most hostile match I've ever been a part of," Roby said. "BC guys were cursing at us during the match. I'm not saying we were being complete angels either, but it was really loud and really aggressive."
Both matches lasted for three sets. Ho overwhelmed his opponent in his first set, but BC's Brian Locklear tied up the match with a 6-7 victory. Building off the emotion from Roby's close match, Ho was able to outlast his opponent and win the final set, 6-3.
"[Roby's comeback] got me really pumped up and excited," Ho said. "I ended up breaking and winning the match."
Roby's marathon match took close to three hours to complete. After battling back and forth, Roby forced a tiebreaker in the last set. Despite the comeback, BC won the tiebreaker to take the match.
"This match is a good indicator of where we are," Roby said. "[BC] beat a lot of Ivy teams last year so it certainly wasn't a bad loss."
Dartmouth will have the weekend off before hosting Fairleigh Dickinson University on March 7 in the Boss Tennis center at 11 a.m.
