PHILADELPHIA — Pit up against sixth-seeded William & Mary on the final day of the ECAC Championship, the fifth-seeded Dartmouth men's tennis team nearly finished on a high note, but dropped a 4-3 decision to take sixth in the three-day tournament.
With five singles matches in the books, and score knotted at 3-3, all eyes were on a three-set battle between
Carlos Guerrero Alvarez and Alexandre Leblanc on Court 1. Leblanc answered the call for the Tribe, clinching the match with a 6-4 win in the final set. The Big Green were victorious throughout the bottom half of singles with wins from
Miles Groom (No. 4),
Yujiro Onuma (No. 5) and
Alex Knox-Jones (No. 6). Prior to the completion of Guerrero Alvarez's match, Dartmouth also had a chance to clinch with
Hikaru Takeda on Court 2.
The doubles point proved to be crucial, and the Big Green nearly captured it, having claimed the first match to finish thanks to
Waleed Qadir and Groom at the No. 3 position. William & Mary got one back on Court 2 and eventually edged
Henry Ren and
Alex Knox-Jones at No. 1 to take a 1-0 lead.
Dartmouth heads south for two matches, beginning with Liberty on Friday, Feb. 23. Another matchup with William & Mary awaits on Saturday, Feb. 24.
DOUBLES
Bill Duo/Konstantinos Raptis (W&M) def.
Henry Ren/
Alex Knox-Jones (Dartmouth), 6-4
Satchel Benn/Oliver Hague (W&M) def.
Hikaru Takeda/
Carlos Guerrero Alvarez (Dartmouth), 6-3
Waleed Qadir/
Miles Groom (Dartmouth) def. Alexandre Leblanc/Alexander Karman (W&M), 6-2
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1
SINGLES
Alexandre Leblanc (W&M) def.
Carlos Guerrero Alvarez (Dartmouth), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
Satchel Benn (W&M) def.
Henry Ren (Dartmouth), 6-3, 6-3
Konstantinos Raptis (W&M) def.
Hikaru Takeda (Dartmouth), 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
Miles Groom (Dartmouth) def. Oliver Hague (W&M), 7-5, 6-2
Yujiro Onuma (Dartmouth) def. Albert Hansen (W&M), 6-4, 6-4
Alex Knox-Jones (Dartmouth) def. Alexander Karman (W&M), 5-7, 6-1, 6-2
Order of Finish: 2, 4, 5, 6, 3, 1