The fourth-seeded women's team (4-4) traveled to Princeton, N.J., where the Big Green lost to Brown University before defeating the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Columbia University.
Dartmouth faltered at the start of the championships, losing 4-3 to Brown (4-5) in the first round.
Dartmouth came out strong against the fifth-seeded Bears, winning two of three sets to secure the matchup's doubles point. Top doubles pair Melissa Matsuoka'14 and tri-captain Molly Scott '11 neatly displaced Brown senior Bianca Aboubakare and freshman Jessica Harrow with an 8-3 victory.
After dropping the point, the Bears mounted a comeback in singles play, winning four matches and securing the overall victory.
In a tie-breaking match on the number two court, Sarah Leonard '13 lost her first set to Aboubakare, 6-4. Leonard turned her game around in the second set, pulling ahead for a 6-1 win. Aboubakare stormed back, however, clinching the point for Brown.
Despite the loss, Leonard said she took the match in stride and used it as motivation for the rest of the weekend.
"It was unfortunate I was not able to pull through, but I walked away not as upset as I could have been because I thought I still competed well that day," she said.
No longer in contention for the championship title, the team refocused its attention towards winning fifth place, Leonard said.
"We turned a negative into a positive by choosing to accomplish our next-best goal of placing fifth," Leonard said, adding that the team's mindset remained unchanged throughout the weekend.
Dartmouth rebounded to sweep eighth-seeded New Jersey Institute of Technology, 7-0, on the second day of play.
After handily winning the doubles point, the Big Green clinched a shutout with four straight-set wins in the singles matches.
Unlike in the tournament's earlier matches, in which doubles play preceded singles sets, singles play came first in the Sunday match against Columbia (6-2).
As a result of the different format and Dartmouth's success in the singles match, the doubles sets were not required and were not played against Columbia.
Dartmouth gained momentum against Columbia with straight-set victories from Leonard, Matsuoka, and tri-captain Ryan Reichel '11 in the number two, three and four spots, respectively.
With Dartmouth leading, 3-2, the fate of the matchup came down to the number five match. Christina Danosi '13 dropped her first set to freshman Ilona Alecsiu but quickly refocused, winning the next two sets and clinching the match for Dartmouth.
Leonard said Danosi's match reflected the team's performance over the weekend.
"For me, it was the highlight of the weekend because [Danosi] came through in the end and won it for the whole team," Leonard said.
The weekend provided Dartmouth with a preview of the spring season, as every Ivy League team except the University of Pennsylvania competed at the championships.
"It gave us a good opportunity to see how we would do against the different talents and different formations in the doubles," Leonard said.
The men's team (4-2) traveled to the Murr Center at Harvard University for its tournament. Seventh-seeded Dartmouth struggled to maintain its momentum in the singles sets, losing a tough match to 10th-seeded St. John's University in the opening round.
Co-captain Curtis Roby '11 said Dartmouth started the match strong after sweeping the doubles sets on all three courts.
"We came into it really confident and felt like we could win," he said.
Despite the Big Green's early success, Roby said St. John's (3-1) improved its play in the singles matches.
"We had a lot of chances to do some damage, but we did not take advantage of the opportunities they gave us," he said.
Co-captain Stephen Greif '11 was Dartmouth's only singles winner, securing a point in the fifth spot of the singles matches.
On Saturday, the Big Green shrugged off the hard-fought loss against St. John's with a 5-2 victory over ninth-seeded Boston College.
Dartmouth went into the match aware that the Eagles (4-5) were eager to rebound from their 6-1 loss to the Big Green on Feb. 5.
Dartmouth won two of three doubles sets, putting Boston College at a one-point deficit. Although the Big Green beat the Eagles in four of the six singles matches, Roby said the competition quickly tightened after the doubles sets.
In the number two spot, Xander Centenari '13 trailed 4-0 in the third set before rallying back to decisively clinch the match for Dartmouth, 6-4. Two Boston College players won their matches in straight sets.
The women's team will next face the University of Massachusetts on Thursday, while the men's team will play St. John's in New York City on Sunday.
