The 2011 season the first under new head coach Chris Drake marked the Big Green's first season with a winning record.
Dartmouth began the match well, sweeping all three doubles matches to earn the doubles point for the Big Green. Michael Laser '12 and Xander Centenari '13 won in a tie-breaker in first doubles, followed by victories from Curtis Roby '11 and Stephen Greif '11 in second and Cameron Ghorbani '14 and Alex de Chatellus '13 in third.
The Big Green failed, however, to win a closely contested singles round, where four of the six matches went to three sets.
Laser lost in two sets in first singles, which was offset by Centenari's two-set victory in the second singles match. Both Roby and Chris Ho '12 played very close matches in third and fourth singles, respectively, but were ultimately defeated by their Crimson opponents in the first set. Both, however, rallied to win their second sets, 7-6. Ho managed to complete the comeback, dominating in his last set. Roby struggled and lost in his final set as a Dartmouth athlete.
Greif found himself in a similar situation as two-season doubles partner Roby, losing in three sets in fifth singles. With the matchup's score tied at three matches each, Brandon Debot '14 fought to the end but could not cinch a victory for Dartmouth.
"We lost three really tough three-setters," Debot said.
To honor the team's senior players in the final match of their collegiate careers, Dartmouth held a ceremony and banquet after the match. At the event, players and coaches voiced their appreciation for the senior class, de Chatellus said.
"People got up and talked about what the seniors have done for the team," de Chatellus said.
Debot said the team strongly valued the leadership its seniors provided.
"They've been incredibly helpful and instrumental to our team," he said.
De Chatellus said the team was disappointed to end its season with a loss, although he noted the team was generally satisfied with the season overall.
"The season was really great," he said. "We've played six 4-3 matches in a row, which is about as close as you can go in the Ivies. I attribute a lot of our success to our three seniors."
Debot, who agreed with de Chatellus' sentiments, said the Big Green "did great things for the tennis program in general" this season.
"Obviously, we had a few disappointing losses, but overall, we worked really hard," he said.
Bryan Song '11, along with co-captains Roby and Greif, are the team's three graduating seniors.
