The Dartmouth men's tennis team enjoyed a successful weekend, advancing to the semifinals of the ECAC Team Championships, a tournament featuring all of the Northeast's top teams.
The Big Green's result came courtesy of wins over Army 6-1 and Yale 6-0, but the run was ended by Harvard with a score of 6-1.
"I thought it went extremely well for this point in the season," Captain Holden Spaht '96 said.
Particularly impressive was the shutout victory against Yale, a win in which the Big Green did not drop a single set.
"In all my years of coaching, I never remember beating Yale that badly," Coach Chuck Kinyon said.
In the win over Yale, the Big Green stormed out of the gates by sweeping all three doubles matches. Then it was on to singles, where first singles Jim Rich '96 led the way with a tough 6-4, 7-5 triumph over Yale's Mark Warnken.
After that there was no letdown, with Dartmouth's Matt Fuller '97, Erich Holzer '99, Spaht, and Gabe Sauerhoff '99 all winning their singles matches in straight sets. This made Avery Rueb's '98 match at sixth singles inconsequential, but the sophomore still dominated, taking his pro set 8-3.
The spark that was there against Yale seemed to vanish somewhat in the Big Green's match against Harvard. The Big Green came out somewhat intimidated by the Crimson.
"The freshmen were in awe of Harvard," Kinyon said.
Freshman Austin Hawley '99 agreed. "We went out a little intimated. Harvard has some big names."
The butterflies were evident early in Dartmouth's doubles play. The first doubles team of Rich and Spaht and the third doubles pair of Sauerhoff and Hawley were both blanked 8-0 in their respective matches. Second doubles Rueb and Rob Simik '99 kept it close before going down by an 8-6 score.
With Harvard possibly being a top 20 national team, the apprehension was somewhat understandable. The Crimson hosts a deep lineup which will be hard for any Ivy team to penetrate.
"Any of the top four [players] for Harvard would probably be in the top 50 for the country," Rich said.
Kinyon attributes the Crimson's depth to their recruiting. "With the Harvard name, it's easy for them to take in many solid recruits every year," he said.
Despite the stiff competition, the Big Green had one highlight on the day when Rich defeated Harvard's Thomas Blake 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in first singles.
Kinyon pointed to Rich's strong mental game and match preparation as the reason for his victory.
"We had a game plan," Kinyon said. "Jim was cautious, working the kid, waiting for the errors. Harvard didn't play too smart."
Other singles players from Dartmouth held their own against Harvard. Second singles Fuller lost 6-3, 6-4; fourth singles Spaht went down 7-6, 6-2, and sixth singles Rueb dropped his match 3-6, 6-3, 6-0.
Despite the 6-1 team loss, the experience of playing Harvard could prove to be invaluable for the young Big Green squad, especially when the spring season rolls around.
"It was good to go out and play them in the fall so we already know what to expect for the spring," Hawley said.
The Big Green's performance at the ECAC established them, along with finalists Harvard and Princeton, as the teams with the best shots at capturing the EITA title come spring.
"I was very encouraged by the team's effort this weekend, and I expect better things as this team matures," Spaht said.
By winning two out of their three matches, the Big Green upped their record for the fall season to 4-1.
