Doubles point creates problems for Big Green
By Rachel Eggleston, The Dartmouth Staff
Published on Monday, April 20, 2009
The Big Green women's tennis team narrowly fell to Brown on Sunday, 4-3, despite winning the majority of the single matches.
The Dartmouth women's tennis team lost to Yale and Brown over the weekend after failing to secure the doubles point in both matches. The Big Green (8-13, 2-4 Ivy) fell 6-1 to No. 44 Yale (14-5, 5-1 Ivy) on Friday and 4-3 to Brown (19-4, 5-2 Ivy) on Sunday.
Head Coach Bob Dallis said after the Brown match that the doubles point has been crucial to the team's success this year.
"It's only one point, but it sets the tone," he said.
No. 1 singles player Molly Scott '11 was responsible for three of the team's four points over the weekend. She won both of her singles matches and beat Yale's No. 1 doubles team with partner Mary Beth Winingham '10.
Co-captain Jamie Caplan '09 said that the team entered the weekend looking to capitalize on some recent unexpected results in the Ivy League.
"We went into it with the mentality that anything could happen," she said.
Dartmouth started off Sunday's match against Brown on top. Carissa King '12 kicked off the match by singing the national anthem, after which Jesse Adler '10 and Georgiana Smyser '11 won the first match of the day at No. 2 doubles.
The Big Green fought hard to win the doubles point, but Brown won the remaining two doubles matches to take home the point. Adler and Smyser captured the first win for Dartmouth, but Scott and Winingham, and King and Julia Zak '10, lost close matches at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles, respectively. Adler and Smyser fought for an 8-6 win, while Scott and Winingham lost, 9-7, and King and Zak lost, 8-6.
Scott, Adler and Ryan Reichel '11 won their singles matches at the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 5 positions, respectively, but the loss of the doubles point ultimately proved insurmountable. Adler defeated her opponent, 6-2, 6-1, while Scott and Reichel battled for their victories in third-set super-breakers. Scott defeated Brown sophomore Bianca Aboubakare, the 2008 Ivy League Rookie of the Year, 3-6, 7-5, 10-5. Scott kept her cool on the court, while Aboubakare was visibly frustrated and complained about several third-set calls.
Scott's performance against Yale senior Janet Kim at No. 1 singles was the highlight of Friday's match. Kim started off strong by winning the first set, 6-4, but Scott bounced back in the second set to hand Kim a 6-1 loss. Scott and Kim entered the third set tied at 1-1. Scott battled throughout the set and won, 7-5, giving Dartmouth its only point of the day.
Scott, along with doubles partner Winingham, was also responsible for Dartmouth's only other win of the day. Scott and Winingham defeated Yale players Vicky Brook and Lindsay Clark at No. 1 doubles in a 9-7 tiebreaker. The win was not enough to give the Big Green the doubles point. Adler and Smyser fell, 8-1, at No. 2 doubles, and King and Zak narrowly lost a 9-7 tiebreaker at No. 3. King and Zak lead by one or two points for most of the match, but opponents Sarah Lederhandler and Stevi Petrelli won three points in a row after trailing 7-6 to hand the doubles point to Yale.
Yale swept the No. 2 through No. 6 singles matches in straight sets. Reichel almost won her first set against Lederhandler at No. 6 singles, but Lederhandler came away with the win in a 7-6 (5) tiebreaker. Reichel went on to lose the second set 6-1. Dartmouth singles players Winingham, Adler, Smyser and Carley Markovitz '10 struggled to win any games at the No. 2 through No. 5 positions. Winingham, Adler and Smyser all lost their second sets, 6-0.
Dartmouth returns to the court on Wednesday for the team's last match of the season.
"This is an outstanding team in terms of how they care about each other, how they compete and how much they've worked towards achieving their goals," Dallis said. "It's sad that that all comes to an end on Wednesday."
Caplan, who was honored at Sunday's Senior Day, said that Dartmouth was ready to take on Harvard.
"We're going out there with the attitude of leaving everything on the court," Caplan said.
The Big Green will take on Harvard in Cambridge, Mass., at 3 p.m.