"I thought it was a great start to our season," captain Georgiana Smyser '11 said. "Temple is a strong team, but we came out strong and really set the tone. We had some strong performances from our freshmen and we really just took it away from the beginning. We are a young team and some of us are coming back from injuries in the fall, but overall it was a really great day."
The Big Green started off strong by winning two of its three doubles matches. In the number one spot, Melissa Matsuoka '14 and senior tri-captain Molly Scott '11 beat the Owls, 8-1. The pair are currently ranked the sixth-best doubles pair in the Northeast Region.
Smyser and Ryan Reichel '11 followed with an 8-2 win at the number two spot, securing the match's doubles point for the Big Green.
Rachel Decker-Sadowski '14 and Sarah Leonard '13 wrapped up the doubles competition in the number three spot, dropping a close match, 8-6.
"Winning the doubles point is always a great way to start the match," Reichel said. "It's so important and to go into singles already up 1-0 is a huge confidence booster and it really swings the momentum in your favor. We've been focusing on starting strong and I think we were able to do that."
The Big Green carried the momentum from its doubles wins over to singles play, completing all of its wins in straight sets.
Scott who is currently ranked the number four singles player in the Northeast Region won 6-1, 6-1 at the number one spot. Matsuoka and Reichel also notched victories in the number two and number three spots, respectively.
Playing in the number four spot, Sabrina Stewart '14 narrowly lost to senior Elyse Steiner Temple's former number one player 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. Valeriya Tatisheva '14 came back from a 1-4 deficit in the second set to win, 6-1, 6-4, in the number six spot and Decker- Sadowski bested her opponent to win at number seven.
Smyser fell in straight sets in the number five spot.
Head coach Bob Dallis stressed that players' clutch performances keyed the team's victory.
"They were able to close out their sets and their matches," he said. "They were able to maintain their focus and make sure that after they won that first set, they were ready to play the second set without losing focus. Their overall composure on the court was good."
Despite its win, the Big Green still has some improvements to make, Reichel said.
"It was the first match back so I think a lot of what needs improvement will come as we play more," Reichel said. "We all have things that we need to work on individually so that we can work toward playing our best tennis. Things like mental toughness during the matches, that only comes with more experience and hopefully we will be playing at our highest level later on in the season, especially when it comes to our [Ivy League] season in the spring."
Getting more match experience is important to the team's progression this season, according to Smyser.
"It was our first match back and we were a little rusty in terms of match play, but that is definitely something that will improve as we get more matches under our belt," Smyser said. "Our physical performance will get better as well as match toughness."
The team will travel to Clemson, S.C., next weekend to compete in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Kick-Off Weekend at Clemson University. Dartmouth secured an invitation to the tournament by finishing as one of the top 60 teams in the country during the 2010 season.
The Big Green will face Clemson and other competitors with possible matches against Vanderbilt University or Marshall University over the weekend.
Dallis said that despite the tough opposition, the Big Green will attempt to treat the tournament as it does every match.
"We are going to go out with the mindset to play as well as we can for each and every point," he said. "And whether you won or lost the last point, you are going to work just as hard to win the next one."
