The men’s tennis team traveled to Virginia over spring break, where it went 2-1 against three nonconference opponents. Dartmouth picked up convincing victories against The College of William and Mary and Old Dominion University. The Big Green, which entered the trip ranked 34 in the country suffered a painful loss against No. 36 Virginia Commonwealth University.
“Being able to venture out and play opponents that we otherwise might not be able to play while still having fun was really beneficial for everyone,” Erik Nordahl ’16 said.
Dartmouth, coming off of a successful winter indoor season, was confident heading into its March 18 match against the University of Richmond. The Big Green finished third in the ECAC this indoor season and reached 41 in the rankings, a program high at the time.
The competition was called off last minute due to icy court conditions and could not be rescheduled.
Dartmouth lost to VCU 4-2. Brandon DeBot ’14 and Diego Pedraza ’17 won their singles matches, at the third and sixth spots respectively. DeBot defeated his opponent 6-2, 6-4, while Pedraza destroyed his opponent 6-2, 6-2.
At the number one slot, Dovydas Sakinis ’16 battled VCU senior Alexis Heugas, ranked 59th in the nation for singles players, when their match was stopped because VCU had already secured the win. The two were tied in the third and final set 4-4. In doubles, George Wall ’17 and Brendan Tannenbaum ’16 won 8-5, but both other Big Green pairs fell to Rams’ athletes.
“Despite the loss, we handled ourselves very well in the face of extremely tough competition and occasionally questionable sportsmanship from the opposition,” Sam Todd '15 said.
The Big Green next beat Old Dominion 5-2. Despite losses in doubles, the team’s 5-1 singles record propelled it to victory. Sakinis was the only one to lose, dropping the first set 7-6 (7-5) and trailed 4-2 in the second before retiring with a back injury. Pedraza shined, dropping just three games in his entire match.
The trip ended with a 4-1 victory over William and Mary. Once again, Dartmouth dropped the doubles point, but secured four singles matches. Sakinis managed a dominant come-from-behind victory, winning 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
The other three singles points were captured in straight sets, including a dominant victory by Kipouras, who dropped just two games to his opponent.
The now No. 40 Big Green moves into spring as the third highest ranked Ancient Eight team, behind No. 18 Columbia University and No. 30 Harvard University.
The Big Green will face Cornell University in its Ivy opener on April 5.
The article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction appended: March 26, 2014
The article was initially published online under the headline "Men’s tennis team goes 1-2 in Va." The headline has been corrected to reflect the team's record, which was 2-1.
