The Dartmouth men's and women's tennis teams both rebounded from early deficits with relative success during their first weekend of Ivy League play. The women's team (10-7, 2-0 Ivy) came back from doubles match losses against Columbia University and Cornell University, winning both matches with 4-3 scores. The men's team (10-5, 1-1 Ivy) trounced the Lions with a 5-2 victory on Friday, but was edged out, 4-3, after a heated nail-biter against the Big Red on Saturday.
The women's team delivered a strong comeback against both Columbia (9-8, 0-2 Ivy) and Cornell (8-7, 0-2 Ivy) after falling into a one-point deficit.
The Big Green slipped early in the match against the Lions, losing the doubles point as Melissa Matsuoka '14 and tri-captain Molly Scott '11 posted Dartmouth's sole win in the number one court.
Given that the doubles point often acts as a deciding factor in a dual match, the Big Green took the loss in stride and concentrated on the remaining portion of the matchup, according to Sarah Leonard '13.
Dartmouth rebounded quickly with four victories in singles play to take the match with a score of 4-3.
"Coming out of the doubles, we knew we really had to refocus and, as a result, we posted strong singles across the board," Leonard said.
On the following day, Dartmouth again found itself at a disadvantage after the doubles round against Cornell.
The Big Green echoed its previous performance, however, by quickly claiming straight-set victories in the number one, two and three singles positions.
Up 3-2, a Big Green victory hung in the balance as co-captain Georgina Smyser '11 and Christina Danosi '13 found themselves in tight third-set battles on the number five and six courts, respectively.
Smyser clinched the victory for Dartmouth, defeating Cornell senior Ruxandra Dumitrescu, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
"The matches were played at opposite sides of the court and suddenly we heard a huge uproar and knew Georgina won it for us," Leonard said.
Although not an easy weekend, Leonard said the team's quick response to losses will be crucial in the future when Dartmouth competes against higher-level teams.
"We had some rough patches, but to me, it was a successful weekend because we remained focused and fought back hard," she said.
Leonard said no clear favorite currently stands out in the League, as many teams suffered losses this weekend.
The men's team rebounded after a doubles-point loss, handily defeating Columbia (6-12, 0-2 Ivy) on Friday with a 5-2 final score.
Head coach Chris Drake said the team expected a tight match in the doubles round.
"It was tough to lose, but we hung in there even when it came down to the wire," he said.
Drake added that the Big Green quickly dampened the Lions' early momentum, winning every first set in the singles matches. Dartmouth proceeded to win four of the singles matches in straight sets.
Dartmouth consistently put itself in position to win on Saturday, but fell short by a point against Cornell (19-4, 2-0 Ivy).
The singles matches highlighted the competitiveness of the two teams, which Drake said was one of the best college matches he had seen.
"It was unbelievably close in the singles and the matches lost were not from a lack of effort or competing," he said.
The singles round in which five of the matches went to three sets was generally marked by strong comebacks. All of the five-set matches were won by the player who lost in the first set.
Michael Laser '12, Chris Ho '12 and co-captain Curtis Roby '11 all rebounded from one-set deficits and dominated the next two sets to win their matches on the number two, three and six courts, respectively.
Dartmouth again lost the doubles point early on against Cornell.
Drake attributed the loss on the number one doubles court to the play style of Cornell senior Jonathan Jaklitsch and senior Evan Bernstein. The Big Red duo's use of different formations threw off Roby and co-captain Stephen Greif '11 and they dropped the match, 8-3.
Despite the losses, the Big Green pairing is a formidable force on the court and Drake said Dartmouth will continue to refine its doubles play in practice.
Drake said Dartmouth has several other tough matchups this season, specifically noting that he expects tight results against Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania this weekend.
The men's team will travel to play Princeton (10-6, 3-0 Ivy) and Penn (11-3, 1-2 Ivy), while the women's team will play the Tigers (9-8, 2-1 Ivy) and the Quakers (6-11, 0-3 Ivy) in Hanover.
