The Dartmouth men's and women's tennis teams both fell to Harvard University on Saturday in their final matches of the season. The men, playing on the road, entered the match with an opportunity to claim a share of the Ivy League championship. Both teams fell to the Crimson by a score of 4-3.
In Cambridge, the men (18-4, 4-3 Ivy) fell to a strong Crimson (22-2, 6-1 Ivy) squad currently ranked 23rd in the country. The victory clinched the Ivy League title for Harvard, the 29th in program history.
Dartmouth came back and captured the doubles point after a slow start to the match. Michael Laser '12 and Alex de Chatellus '13 won at the top spot, and the tandem of Xander Centenari '13 and Brandon DeBot '14 secured the win at the second spot. In singles, DeBot and Cameron Ghorbani '14 were the only members of the Big Green to win their matches. Ghorbani claimed the victory at No. 3, winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, and DeBot won at No. 6, 7-5, 6-4.
Despite the loss, co-captain Centenari said he was proud of the team's effort.
"I thought we played well all across the board," Centenari said. "We were down in doubles but were able to steal the point at the end. We just came up a little short to a very good team."
Centenari said Dartmouth did not change its strategy or game plan knowing Harvard was one of the top teams in the nation.
"We basically stuck to what we've been doing all year," he said. "We are confident in how we compete and just wanted to give our best fight, which we did. It was a great match overall and very close."
Even with the season-ending loss, the 2012 season will go down as the winningest season in program history, as Dartmouth tallied 18 victories. Centenari said that although the loss is tough now, he is happy with the team's success looking back on the season as a whole.
"It has been a great season for sure," Centenari said. "We had the most wins in team history, and I think it was a testament to us bringing our all in every match. We always gave our best fight and never gave up."
Centenari said players on the team will most likely take a short break from tennis before getting back to a normal routine.
"Most of the guys will take a week off to rest up and recover from the long season," Centenari said. "In a week, we will probably start hitting again and get back in the gym. We have a month before our summer tournaments, so we are going to start training again soon."
In Hanover, the women's team (8-13, 2-5 Ivy) came up short in a very close match against the Crimson (11-7, 4-3 Ivy), 4-3. Dartmouth lost all three doubles matches, but co-captain Sarah Leonard '13, Sabrina Stewart '14 and Theresa Smith '15 won their singles matches for the Big Green. Smith was the first to win her singles match, quickly dispatching Natalie Blosser, 6-2, 6-2. Leonard defeated the 2010 Ivy League Rookie of the Year Hideko Tachibana in the No. 1 match, 7-6, 6-1, while Stewart defeated Samantha Gridley, 6-1, 1-6, 7-6, at No. 5.
"It was nice to end my personal season on a winning note," Leonard said. "My opponent was a great player, but I walked on the court believing I could beat her. I made sure to focus on my game and play within myself."
Smith said the team's effort also merited recognition.
"Even though this was a tough loss, I am really proud with how the team competed," Smith said. "Both Sabrina and Rachel [Decker-Sadowski '14] had extremely difficult and long matches, but they gave it their all until the last point."
Smith said that going into the match, Dartmouth was focused on winning, especially since it was the team's final match.
"We try to approach every match with the same mindset of competing our hardest no matter who the opponent," Smith said. "Knowing it was our last match of the season, we really wanted to leave it all on the court, which I think we did. Unfortunately, it just didn't go our way."
Moving forward, the tennis team hopes to keep working hard to get ready for next year.
"I certainly think we progressed a lot throughout the season, but we also have several areas that we need to improve upon for our season next fall," Leonard said. "We have a lot of time between now and our first match in September to reflect on how we will develop our game in the coming season."
