No. 56 Women's Narrowly Defeated at Home Versus No. 45 Harvard

Wednesday, April 21

Hanover, N.H.

3:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

HARVARD

No. 56 Women's Narrowly Defeated at Home Versus No. 45 Harvard

4/21/2010 10:15:00 PM | Women's Tennis

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. — With wins from senior co-captain Jesse Adler (Winnetka, Ill.), senior Carley Markovitz (South Pasadena, Calif.) and junior Georgiana Smyser (Houston, Texas), the No. 56 Dartmouth women's tennis team nearly upset No. 45 Harvard yesterday, but were ultimately edged 4-3 in front of a packed house at the Boss Tennis Center.

Playing their final matches for the Big Green, Adler trounced Samantha Rosenkrans, previously undefeated in Ivy League play, 6-2, 6-2 at No. 4. At the No. 5 spot, Markovitz won a three-set duel over the Crimson's former No. 1 player, Agnes Sibilski, using her crafty, all-court game and steadiness to frustrate the Harvard junior. At No. 6 Smyser downed in three sets Alex Lehman, a freshman who is part of the Crimson's third-ranked 2009 recruiting class.

The other two blue-chip members of that freshman class got wins for the Crimson as Big Green freshman Sarah Leonard (Norwalk, Conn.) lost at No. 2 to Hideko Tachibana, a former top-10 USTA junior player. At No. 3 senior Mary Beth Winingham (Carmel, Ind.) battled mightily with Kristin Norton, a former top 15 USTA junior player, but ultimately fell 7-5, 7-6 (9). At No. 1 junior Molly Scott (Trabuco Canyon, Calif.), No. 118 in the national rankings, was defeated in straight sets by the hard-hitting Holly Cao, currently ranked No. 73.

In doubles, Adler and Smsyer won easily at No. 3, but Harvard won the other two matches to take the doubles point. Senior co-captain Julia Zak (Bernardsville, N.J.) partnered with Leonard at No. 2 but they were defeated by the tough tandem of Norton and Tachibana. And the No. 67-ranked pair of Scott and Winingham were downed 8-5 by Rosenkrans and Cao at No. 1.

Dartmouth concludes its season with a 16-6 (3-4 Ivy League) record, while Harvard, hot off a 4-3 win over Yale on Sunday, moves to 14-7 (6-1 Ivy League) and secures second place in the league behind undefeated Princeton.

Doubles
No. 3 Jesse Adler/Georgiana Smyser (D) def. Agnes Sibilski/Samantha Gridley (H), 8-2
No. 2 Kristin Norton/Hideko Tachibana (H) def. Sarah Leonard/Julia Zak (D), 8-2
No. 1 Holly Cao/Samantha Rosenkrans (H) def. Molly Scott/Mary Beth Winingham (D), 8-5

Singles
No. 1 Holly Cao (H) def. Molly Scott (D), 6-2, 6-2
No. 4 Jesse Adler (D) def. Samantha Rosenkrans (H), 6-2, 6-2
No. 2 Hideko Tachibana (H) def. Sarah Leonard (D), 6-3, 6-0
No. 6 Georgiana Smyser (D) def. Alexandra Lehman (H), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
No. 3 Kristin Norton (H) def. Mary Beth Winingham (D), 7-5, 7-6 (9)
No. 5 Carley Markovitz (D) def. Agnes Sibilski (H), 6-3, 3-6, 6-4