After a long weekend of passionate competition at the Boss Tennis Center, the men’s tennis team came in third in the annual ECAC Indoor Championship. The four-day stretch of matches ended successfully for the No. 3 seeded Dartmouth (9-2) which improved on its 8th place finish from last year.
The Big Green won two out of its three matches this weekend. On Friday, Dartmouth picked up an easy 4-0 victory over George Washington University in the opening round of the eight-team tournament. Sunday saw the Big Green suffer a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to Columbia University. The team bounced back the next day to secure a 4-1 victory over Cornell University in the third-place match.
The tournament also served as the Big Green’s first major measurement against League competition.
Sam Todd ’15 said he was encouraged by the team’s third-place finish.
“It shows that we are right up there amongst the best Ivy League teams,” he said.
The quarterfinal match between Dartmouth and the sixth-seeded George Washington (1-4) on Friday ended in a convincing victory for Dartmouth. The team took the doubles point to open the match, continuing the team’s seven-match streak at home this season.
In singles action, Diego Pedraza ’17 earned the Big Green’s first point, winning his match 6-1, 6-1. Dovydas Sakinis ’16 played well in the No. 1 position for Dartmouth with a straight set victory against his George Washington counterpart. George Wall ’17 brought home the win, starting a strong weekend by dropping just three games in the match for a 6-0, 6-3 victory.
After a day off on Saturday spent scouting the opposition at the Boss Center, the Big Green returned to the court on Sunday against the second-seeded Columbia Lions (8-1). After a long afternoon of hard-fought matches, including three that went to the third set, the Big Green lost its first home match of the season.
Once again the doubles teams started strong for the Big Green, who picked up the match’s first point winning two of the three matches. In the No. 1 spot, Cameron Ghorbani ’14 and Brendan Tannenbaum ’16 beat the tenth-ranked duo of Ashok Narayana and Max Schnur, 6-3. Brandon DeBot ’14 and Sakinis won 6-3 in the No. 2 doubles spot.
The two victories for Dartmouth came from Ghorbani and Chris Kipouras ’15. Ghorbani won his match in straight sets at No. 4, while Kipouras battled back after dropping the first set 1-6 to take the victory in three sets. The junior fed off the energy of the crowd, along with his own passionate emotion, routinely yelling up to the crowd and pumping his fist.
The fans encouraged and embraced his emotional display and the Boss Tennis Center was as loud as it would be all weekend. Kipouras ended up winning the second set 6-5 and took the third set 6-4. He won the match on his serve, and after showing restraint through the last set, let out a strong scream on the last point.
Despite the exciting match, the team’s overall loss to the Lions came as a disappointment.
“It was a heartbreaking loss,” Pedraza said. “But it was the kind of experience we needed to ensure we keep improving.”
Dartmouth looked to rebound in the third place match on Monday against Cornell (5-4), which was seeded fourth in the tournament. The Big Green took down the visitors 4-1.
DeBot and Sakinas continued their domination at the number two doubles spot, winning all three of their matches in the tournament.
In singles, Sakinis, DeBot and Wall picked up straight set victories. Wall, who battled flu-like symptoms all weekend, picked up his second victory on the weekend with a 6-5, 6-4 win in the No. 5 slot.
“It was an awesome experience,” he said. “Not being able to keep anything down after both matches was pretty tough, but those are the sacrifices you have to make during competitions like this.”
Head coach Chris Drake said he was pleased with the team’s effort and overall performance over the weekend.
“I am very proud of the team for fighting through injuries and sickness to come away with really positive results,” he said.
The Big Green returns to the courts on Feb. 21, when it will host a non-conference match against the University of Memphis.
