The Dartmouth men's and women's tennis teams were both in action this weekend, with the men's team in New York participating in the USTA Billie Jean King NTC Men's College Invitational, while the women's team was in Providence, R.I., at the Brown Invitational.
The men's team found success in singles play, with five Big Green athletes advancing to the semi-finals and three of those players qualifying for the finals.
"I thought we did really well," Christopher Ho '12 said. "You can just look at the results. We are only two weeks into the season and we are already at a great point. This is something that we can build on towards regionals and our matches in the winter."
Captain Alexander Centenari '13 won the A draw to lead the team. Centenari upset the number-one seed, University of Texas junior Vasko Mladenov, 6-3, 6-4, early in the tournament to advance in his draw.
He then beat two Ivy League opponents University of Pennsylvania sophomore Ivan Turudic and Princeton University junior Matt Spindler to make it to the finals. Centenari bested St. John's University senior Milo Hauk in straight sets to win the title, 7-6(4), 6-2.
"Xander came out on the first day and took out the top guy in the A draw," Michael Laser '12 said. "It was a huge match and I hope it will give him confidence going into the rest of his season."
Cameron Ghorbani '14 and Sam Todd '15 both advanced to the finals in the C and E draws, respectively. Ghorbani defeated second-seeded Columbia University junior John Yetimoglu to win the championship, 6-4, 6-2. Todd had impressive three-set wins over the number-one seed, Fordham University freshman Srikar Alla of Fordham, and the third seed, Brown University freshman Michael Riechmann, before falling in the finals.
"This was just the second tournament we've played," Centenari said. "This was a very positive experience for our team. Based on how we were able to play competitively in every single flight, I think that once dual matches start, we will be ready."
The Dartmouth women's tennis team began its fall season at the Brown Invitational, finding relative success.
The Big Green played some hard-fought matches in singles play, with eight matches going to three sets. Theresa Smith '15 won her first game against Binghamton University sophomore Jen Fridman in straight sets, before falling to Boston College freshman Kelly Barry. Smith later finished fourth in her draw.
"Overall, we all feel like this was a good start to the season," captain Shelley Carpeni '12 said. "We just came out of an intense two-week preseason where we worked hard on new tactics, techniques as well as improvements on fitness. To end this period with a tournament is a great way to showcase the new things we learned and to implement them in matchplay."
Janet Liu '15 and Rachel Decker-Sadowski '14 advanced in the consolation side of the bracket, both besting their opponents in close matches. Melissa Matsuoka '14 and Akiko Okuda '15 finished seventh in their draws.
The team will attempt to build off of its intensity in close matches throughout regular season play, Decker-Sadowski said.
"As a whole we played many match tiebreakers and very close sets in singles," she said. "I think that this shows the competitive strength of our team. We are lucky because it's difficult to learn how to compete but easy to improve on things like second serves and backhands."
Dartmouth defeated Boston University in the quarterfinals in doubles play. Matsuoka and Okuda beat their opponents, 8-4, while Carpeni and Smith won by an 8-2 margin. Decker-Sadowski and Liu dropped a close match, 9-8(6).
The Big Green then faced Brown in the third place match. Matsuoka and Okuda defeated the Bears' first doubles pair, 8-5, while Carpeni/Smith and Decker-Sadowski/Liu dropped their matches.
Carpeni said that although the tournament showcased certain Dartmouth strengths, it also revealed areas where the Big Green must improve.
"This is just the beginning of our season, which ends in April, so obviously we are looking to continue our improvements and build on this opener," Carpeni said. "There are many areas we are all still learning, but the best thing I think we all were proud of to take away from the weekend was to see the high level of competitiveness we all had in each and every match."
The women's team next plays at the College Tennis Invitational at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center from Oct. 8-10, while the men's team hosts the Dartmouth Shootout at Boss Tennis Center from Oct. 7-9.
