Women's Tennis Drops a Pair in Florida

Friday, March 23

Orlando, Fla.

1:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

Central Florida

3/25/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis

By: Dartmouth

Tampa, Fla. ? The 53^rd ranked Dartmouth women's tennis team faced some tough competition against Central Florida and the 39^th ranked South Florida Bulls this weekend. The Green drops to 8-4 on the season.

Despite capturing the doubles point and getting singles wins from freshmen Jesse Adler and Carley Markovitz, Dartmouth was edged 4-3 this afternoon by Central Florida in Orlando.

Dartmouth knew it was in for a battle, for in the last 11 days the Golden Knights had lost tight 4-3 matches to #28 UC-Irvine and #35 Denver. However, the Big Green came out strong, winning two of three matches to capture the doubles point (something both Irvine and Denver were unable to do). Junior Megan Zebroski and freshman Mary Beth Winingham won at #1 and senior co-captain Kerry Snow and junior Maggie Suydam clinched the point with a 9-7 victory at #3.

But despite a number of hard-fought matches, the Big Green was only able to capture two of the four singles matches, earning straight set victories at #5 and #6 from Adler and Markovitz.

The Big Green earned wins from freshman Carley Markovitz and the No. 3 doubles team of junior Maggie Suydam and freshman Jesse Adler, but fell, 6-1, to the No. 39 University of South Florida in Tampa.

The Bulls were coming off a win Friday over No. 35 Denver and earlier this spring had defeated No. 14 VCU. Dartmouth competed hard and gave USF all it could handle. Junior Megan Zebroski fell in three sets at No. 1 singles to No. 71 Courtney Vernon, who ended last year ranked No. 59 and was 20-0 at No. 2 singles in 2006, and Mary Beth Winingham was edged 6-4, 7-5 at No. 2 by Bahamian freshman Jessica Sweeting, who had an ITF junior world ranking of No. 67.

In a match that was closer than the score indicated, senior co-captain Lindsay Winingham was downed by Liz Cruz, who ended last year ranked No. 92. Adler had a close match at No. 4 singles, playing Gabriela Duch, who last year reached the quarters of the NCAA doubles championship. Sophomore Jamie Caplan was edged 6-3, 7-5 at No. 5 singles by Iciri Rai, while Markovitz trounced Ashley Shumacher at No. 6 singles, winning 6-1, 6-0.

Dartmouth returns to action at Boston University on Saturday, March 31, at 12 noon.

#53 Dartmouth 3, Central Florida 4
Singles:
1. Megan Zebroski lost to Elvira Serrot (UCF) 7-6 (4), 6-1
2. Mary Beth Winingham lost to Kenza Belbacha (UCF) 6-4, 7-6 (3)
3. Lindsay Winingham lost to Anna Yakimchenkova (UCF) 6-3, 6-4
4. Kerry Snow lost to Kyla McNicol (UCF) 3-6, 7-5, 6-1
5. Jesse Adler def. Megan Hunter (UCF) 6-4, 6-1
6. Carley Markovitz def. Jennifer Carati (UCF) 6-2, 6-0

Doubles:
1. Zebroski-MB Winingham def. Yakimchenkova-Serrot (UCF) 8-5
2. Natalie O'Rourke-L. Winingham lost to McNicol-Belbacha (UCF) 8-5
3. Snow-Maggie Suydam def. Carati-Gordon (UCF) 9-7

No. 53 Dartmouth 1, No. 39 University of South Florida 6

Singles:
1. Megan Zebroski lost to #71 Courtney Vernon 4-6, 6-1, 6-0
2. Mary Beth Winingham lost to Jessica Sweeting 6-4, 7-5
3. Lindsay Winingham lost to Liz Cruz 6-1, 6-0
4. Jesse Adler lost to Gabriela Duch 6-4, 6-3
5. Jamie Caplan lost to Iciri Rai 6-3, 7-5
6. Carley Markovitz def. Ashley Shumacher 6-1, 6-0

Doubles:
1. Zebroski-M.B. Winingham lost to Sweeting-Duch 8-4
2. Natalie O'Rourke-L. Winingham lost to Rai-Cruz 8-5
3. Maggie Suydam-Adler def. Vernon-Schumacher 7-6 (ret.)