The women's tennis team finished its season on a high note, taking down two Ivy League foes over the weekend. The Bears overpowered Dartmouth Friday by a score of 5-2, and Sunday, they defeated Harvard, 4-3. The pair of victories boosted Brown's Ivy record to 4-3 (9-11 overall) and marked the first time since 2003 that the team finished with a winning conference record.
"(A winning conference recordis) always something we've been working towards, at least since my freshman year. So yeah, to finally accomplish that did make the wins (over Dartmouth and Harvard) a little more special," said Michelle Pautler '07.
The Bears came out strong against the Big Green, winning two of the three doubles matches to gain an early advantage. At first doubles, Pautler and Sara Mansur '09 had an 8-5 win, and at third doubles, Daisy Ames '07 and Kathrin Sorokko '10 dismantled their opponents 8-2, giving Brown the doubles point.
Pautler said the win over Dartmouth was in doubt until Ames pulled out her three-set match in the next-to-last match to finish.
"The final score was deceiving. It felt a lot closer, where we might lose 4-3," Pautler said. "We were definitely worried ... until Daisy Ames came up with a crucial win."
In singles play, the Bears' winning ways continued. Ames had a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 victory at second singles, and Mansur and Alexa Baggio '09 took straight-set wins at third and fourth singles, finishing with respective scores of 6-4, 6-4 and 6-3, 7-5. Tanja Vucetic '10 rounded out the Bears' 5-2 win with a 6-3, 3-6 (7-2) victory at sixth singles.
The momentum carried over to Sunday's match against the Crimson. Though the Bears dropped the doubles point, they took four of the six singles matches for the victory. At first singles, Pautler outlasted her opponent 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. Mansur had a victory at third singles when her opponent retired with Mansur leading 7-5, 3-0. At fifth singles, Emily Ellis '10 triumphed 6-3, 6-4, and at sixth singles, Vucetic breezed by her opponent 6-2, 6-0.
The triumphant two-day stretch was the Bears' fourth weekend sweep of the season, and all nine of the team's wins on the year came during those four weekends. Pautler, along with Ames, are the team's only graduating players. Pautler said the first winning conference mark in four years was something the Bears could build on.
"Being on the team enhanced my time at Brown," she said. "It really was like having a family that taught me patience, cooperation and teamwork even though a lot of these girls you were competing against for playing time. I think (the winning record) was good for the girls to see that, 'Yes, they can compete with the other Ivy teams.' "
- Erin Frauenhofer
