The match was the final showing for both the team's graduating seniors' as well as head coach Chuck Kinyon, who has been coaching at Dartmouth for over 30 years.
"The Harvard match was pretty bittersweet in a lot of ways," Daniel Freeman '10 said. "It was the last match of my career, the last match of Chuck's. It was at Harvard, who is arguably our biggest rivals, and it was a tough match."
The Green got off to a strong start, as doubles partners Freeman and Michael Laser '12 won a tight match in the No. 1 spot. The Big Green was unable to secure the point, however, losing close matches in both the No. 2 and 3 spots.
"Losing the doubles point was probably the pivotal point in the match," Freeman said. "Harvard was the clear favorite, so we went out with the mentality that if we were going to beat them, we needed to win the doubles point. As a group, we were slightly deflated afterwards knowing that we would have to win four of the six matches, which would be tough."
Dartmouth did not fare much better in singles play. With Stephen Greif '11 who usually plays in the No. 3 spot unable to play due to a groin injury, the rest of the team was bumped up to compete at higher positions. Team co-captain Jeff Friedman '10 stepped in to play at the No. 6 spot.
"It's been tough," Friedman said. "[Greif] is a great player, and we miss him in the lineup. I think that we managed OK. I know it must be really frustrating for Steve. He was able to play in doubles, but he was still not 100 percent. If he didn't play, everyone would have to move up and face someone in a higher spot than they would have, but him playing hurt was not good for the team either."
Five of the six Big Green competitors lost their matches in straight sets. The lone bright spot was Alexander Centenari '13 in the No. 5 spot, who won his match in straight-sets to give Dartmouth its only point of the day.
"The competition was really tough," Freeman said. "Home court advantage always makes a huge difference. We were going from playing our last two matches indoors to playing outdoors, and then again, it was away. They were the clear favorites going into the match. We played hard and competed, but yesterday, they were just the better team."
Despite finishing with a loss, the men put up their best Ivy League showing in seven years. The team is happy with the progress its made throughout the season, Friedman said.
"Honestly, it was a really great season," he said. "We went 11-11 overall and 2-5 in the Ivies. Last year we went 4-17 overall and 0-7 in the Ivies. We made a ton of progress with basically the same players. The attitude this year was so positive. It was so much fun to go into practice and hangout with the guys. We were predicted to be last this season in the Ivies, and we weren't. I mean, we could have won a few more matches. There were some close ones that could have gone either way, but this is the best team that we have had in years."
This offseason will be a time of change for the Dartmouth men's tennis program with Kinyon retiring. Over the summer, the players will be separated, but still keeping up their game, co-captain Curtis Roby '11 said.
"It's definitely going to be a lot different next year," Roby said. "With Chuck and DJ, we knew how they ran things, and we knew how to prepare ourselves for that. It will be a new challenge, but also an exciting one. I hope that our guys play a lot this Summer and keep getting better. Everyone will be doing their own thing, but I think we all know what we need to do in order to improve for next year's season."
