Despite a less than stellar overall performance by the Dartmouth men's tennis team this fall season, Xander Centenari '13 came out on top at the Harvard Invitational in Boston this weekend, winning the A draw of the tournament.
Centenari bested all four of his opponents in straight sets on the way to the first-place finish. In the first round, he beat freshman Edwin Zhang of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 6-4, 6-3. In the next match against Brown University sophomore Mike Hill, Centenari delivered a 6-4, 6-2 win.
Sophomore Luis Rattenhuber of Amherst College proved to be a tough competitor during the semi-finals, taking the first set to a tiebreak.
Centenari went on to win that set 7-6 and his next 6-3, which took him to the finals. Amherst freshman Joey Fritz fell victim to Centenari with a 7-5, 6-3 loss in the final.
"I was obviously really excited to win my draw at the tournament," Centenari said. "I've been working hard on various aspects of my game with [head coach] Chris [Drake], trying to be more aggressive on the court and playing my strengths to my opponents' weaknesses."
Although Centenari was the only Big Green athlete to place first in any of the draws, Dartmouth fought hard, facing stiff competition. In the A draw of singles play, Mike Jacobs '13, Alex de Chatellus '13 and Cameron Ghorbani '14 lost their first round matches in grueling three-set competitions. The three went on to lose their next matches on the consolation side of the bracket.
In the singles B draw, Kevin Cox '13, John Kelly '14 and Bryan Song '11 had more success. Song won his first match to move on to round two, but he eventually lost to his opponent. Cox dropped his match in the first round, won his second round consolation game, but lost in the consolation semi-finals. After losing a close match in the first round, Kelly won three matches in a row to nab a consolation win.
Centenari said that the team had an intense fall season and it was rewarding to see the team's hard work begin to pay off.
"We had some really tough and close losses in this tournament," Centenari said. "Our results as a team weren't quite what we were looking for, but we are competing hard and when it comes down to it, that's what we want first and foremost. Overall, I think that the team has really stepped it up a level, even from last year."
In doubles play, two of the Big Green teams made it to the semifinals. Centenari and de Chatellus, playing in the A draw, beat the Brown team of Mike Hill and Andrew Yazmer 8-4 to move into the semi-finals, but lost by that same score to the Brown team of Charlie Posner and Souffie Arazagui. Cox and Jacobs crushed their Amherst opponents 8-1 to move on to the semis, but were defeated by Tufts University, 8-6.
Despite not performing as well as they would have liked, the Big Green is still working on its doubles game, Centenari said.
"We have been moving people around and feeling out new doubles teams," he said. "We are trying to see how we all play with one another so we can figure out the best teams for our dual matches in the winter."
This tournament brought a close to the Dartmouth team's fall season, but the work will not stop for the Big Green. The team will continue practicing and training as it moves into the off-season. The team will begin to prepare for an intense and grueling winter schedule, playing around 15 matches in about five weeks. The winter season contests are all out of conference, but are team versus team dual matches, which is the same format of the spring season. The winter is also a time of preparation for the spring Ivy Conference matches.
Because of the strength of the Ivy League conference, the team must continue to improve throughout the off-season, according to Centenari.
"The Ivy League has always been a tough conference in tennis," Centenari said. "The key is to be able to practice so that you will be able to perform under pressure. A lot of the guys in the Ivy League are very close in level and ability. The difference between a win and a loss can be how you play on a few big points in a match."
