No. 53 Dartmouth Falls to No. 54 Boston College, 7-0

Friday, February 17

New Haven, Conn.

3:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Boston College

No. 53 Dartmouth Falls to No. 54 Boston College, 7-0

2/17/2012 11:17:00 PM | Women's Tennis

By: Dartmouth

NEW HAVEN, CONN. — Playing without No. 1 player Sarah Leonard (Norwalk, Conn.), who was sidelined due to illness, the No. 53 Dartmouth women's tennis team lost to No. 54 Boston College in the first round of the ECAC Winter Championship in a match that was far closer than the final 7-0 score.

The fifth-seeded Big Green was edged in three 3-set singles matches, and narrowly lost the doubles point to the fourth-seeded Eagles. Dartmouth is now 2-4 for the spring season, while Boston College moves to 5-3.

In doubles, the Big Green's freshman tandem of Akiko Okuda (Tenafly, N.J.) and Theresa Smith (University Park, Fla.) won 8-4 at No. 3. Fellow freshman Janet Liu (Palo Alto, Calif.) and sophomore partner Rachel Decker-Sadowski (Santa Barbara, Calif.) led 7-5 at No. 1 doubles but were unable to hold onto their lead, ultimately falling 9-8 to the country's 14th-ranked team of Olga Khmylev and Alex Kelleher.

In singles, Okuda took over the No. 1 spot for the ailing Leonard and played Jessica Wacnik, who had beaten her 6-1, 6-2 just three weeks ago. This time, Okuda pushed the hard-hitting Wacnik to a third-set super-breaker, losing 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (5). Sophomore Sabrina Stewart (London, England) also fell in a third-set super-breaker to Khmylev, and senior co-captain Shelley Carpeni (New York, N.Y.) was edged 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 at No. 6 singles by Ina Kaupplia.

Dartmouth returns to action Saturday against Fairleigh Dickinson University at 11:30.

Singles Results 
1. Jessica Wacnik (BC) def. Akiko Okuda (DAR), 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (5) 
2. Alex Kelleher (BC) def. Janet Liu (DAR), 6-4, 6-3  
3. Olga Khmylev (BC) def. Sabrina Stewart (DAR), 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (3) 
4. Katrina Gajic (BC) def. Rachel Decker-Sadowski (DAR), 6-2, 6-1 
5. Kelly Barry (BC) def. Jeri Reichel, 6-3, 6-2 
6. Ina Kaupplia (BC) def. Shelley Carpeni (DAR), 1-6, 6-3, 6-4  

Doubles Results 
1. #14 Khmylev/Kelleher (BC) def. Liu/Decker-Sadowski (DAR), 9-8 (7-3) 
2. Kaupplia/Gajic (BC) def. Reichel/Stewart (DAR), 8-3 
3. Okuda/Theresa Smith (DAR) def. Wacnik/Sarah Dalton (BC), 8-4