The women's tennis team pummeled Princeton University last Saturday in a historic match, defeating the defending Ivy League Champions for the first time in several years. Coming off that victory, the women's team also beat the University of Pennsylvania on Sunday. The men's team experienced mixed results over the weekend in two close matches.
Co-captain Georgiana Smyser '11 said it felt "great" to earn a victory over the Tigers.
"This is the first time since my coach has been head coach that we've beaten Princeton in the regular season," she said "They're definitely a really tough competitor."
The Big Green won the match 4-3 with all four of its points coming from singles victories, two of which went to three sets. Co-captain Molly Scott '11 started off strong, defeating Princeton's Hilary Bartlett in only two sets. Melissa Matsuoka '14 continued the winning streak in the number three singles position. The remaining two captains Ryan Reichel '11 and Smyser dominated in fourth and sixth singles, respectively.
The women continued their exceptional performance at home on Sunday, beating Penn 5-2. For the first time this season, Dartmouth won the doubles point in a match against another League school. After getting off to this strong start, the Big Green continued to dominate the Quakers, taking four of six singles matches to coast away with the win.
These matches took place over the team's parents' weekend, which added to the excitement of their victories, Reichel said.
These latest victories add to the Big Green's four-game conference winning streak.
"It's really great to be 4-0," Smyser said. "We're in the best position we've ever been in."
When it comes to predicting the team's ability to end the season as League champions, however, Reichel said the team still has a long way to go.
"I think the [League] title is up for grabs this year," she said. "We have several tough matches ahead. Anything could happen."
Playing on the road, the men's tennis team also began the weekend with a tight match against Princeton, but fell to the Tigers, 3-4. Despite sweeping all three doubles matches at the start of the contest, the Big Green failed to pull through in the singles round, allowing the Tigers to claim the victory. The only two Dartmouth players who won in this round were Alexander Centenari '13 in number two singles and Chris Ho '12 in number six singles.
The Big Green bounced back from this disappointing loss the next day, however, defeating the Quakers 4-3 on Sunday. The teams split victories in the singles round, with Centenari winning the number two singles, Ho taking number five and Stephen Greif '11 taking number six, so the match came down to the doubles point.
The Big Green won the number one and number three doubles games against Penn, both of which went down to the tiebreaker. Michael Laser '12 and Centenari were responsible for the first doubles win, while Alexander de Chatelus '13 and Cameron Ghorbani '14 ended the round strong to secure the point for Dartmouth.
Co-captain Curtis Roby '11 said that he was pleased with how the team played over the weekend.
"I think the team performed very well this weekend," he said. "It was a great team effort. The number one doubles team Laser and Centenari did exceptionally well."
Looking ahead, Roby remains confident that Dartmouth has the potential to accomplish a great deal this season.
"I think one of our strengths is our competitiveness," he said. "We may not be the most talented team on paper, but we work really hard, which I think is a crucial element to success."
Roby reiterated that at this point in the season, any team could emerge as League champions.
"I think we can definitely beat both teams," he said. "It just comes down to a few points here and there."
Both teams will play Brown University and Yale University next weekend.
