Men's tennis splits two against league foes

The men's and women's tennis teams split their matches this weekend, with both teams losing to Harvard, but coming back to defeat Dartmouth. Friday, the men fell to Harvard, 5-2, while the women lost, 7-0. And Saturday, the men topped Dartmouth by a final score of 4-3, while the women won decisively, 5-2.

For the men, the fall to Harvard was especially upsetting because it shattered their hopes at an Ivy League title.

"Harvard is ranked fairly high, so it was not too bad of a loss," senior co-captain Dan Friedman said. "But it was especially disappointing for us because now our goal has gotten away from us."

Against Harvard, the Tigers could only pull off two singles victories after losing the doubles point. Freshman Sratha Saengsuwarn had a straight-set victory at the No. 3 spot, and sophomore Hans Plukas pulled out a win after the loss had already been clinched in a third set tiebreak.

But Plukas' effort to conclude the match fired the Tigers into Saturday as they came out to fight the Big Green. Friedman served up a straight-set victory at No. 2 singles to beat Dartmouth's Neal Bobba, 7-5, 7-5. Straight-set victories were also won by senior Tim Kofol at No. 4, junior David Gopstein at No. 5, and Plukas at No. 6. Gopstein also teamed up with sophomore No. 1 singles player Darius Craton to swipe a doubles victory at No. 1 over the Big Green's Bobba and Dinkmeyer.

"The match against Dartmouth was a good rebound," Friedman said. "I think we showed a lot of character by grinding out the victory, even after the Harvard loss."

With their weekend split, the Tigers improve to 3-2 in the Ivy League and 10-9 for the spring. Though they can no longer vie for the Ivy League title, they will take on Cornell and Columbia this weekend in hopes of adding two more victories to their winning season.

The women fared similarly this weekend against the two Ivy foes, losing to No. 35 Harvard, but coming back to pick up a big win against No. 68 Dartmouth.

For the women, the loss to Harvard wasn't as devastating as it was to their male counterparts. Harvard has been ranked as high as No. 20 in the nation this spring. Last year, they defeated the Tigers 6-1, and they did not graduate many players coming into this season.

"Knowing the caliber of the Harvard team, and the fact that they have beat some of the best teams in the nation this year, we knew this match was going to be tough," senior co-captain Alex Kobishyn said. "Many of their individual players are ranked high nationally, too. When you're up against some excellent players, you've got to expect it to be a challenge."

But the Tigers fought hard throughout the match. After dropping the first sets to many of Harvard's singles players, the Tigers came back and took many of the matches to 7-5 third-set tiebreaks. The No. 3 doubles team of junior Stephanie Berg and freshman Laura Trimble led most of the match before finally losing by the score of 9-8.

And like the men, the women came back Saturday with revenge on their minds, overtaking highly ranked Dartmouth to possibly score a national ranking of their own. Winning the doubles point to start off the match, the Tigers then battled hard throughout the singles matches to finally come out on top. Sophomores Alison Hashmall and Rankin Williams clinched the match for the Tigers, both battling back and winning in third sets.

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"I'm really proud of the way these girls have been handling third-set matches," Kobishyn said of her teammates. "They really give us momentum and pull us through."

The women will also take on Cornell and Columbia next weekend, two teams the Tigers beat last year. With a 2-3 record in Ivy League play this spring, the Tigers will go after both teams, hoping to wrap up the season well and with a winning record to show for their great efforts.