For several hours last Saturday, the Boss Tennis Center buzzed with the sound of rallies, line calls and cheers as the Dartmouth men\u2019s tennis team battled through its final invitational of the fall season. By the weekend\u2019s conclusion on Sunday afternoon, the Big Green posted 21 wins to 8 losses, capping a fall season defined by steady improvement and a young roster finding its footing.<\/p>\n
The event marked the last competitive action before the team shifts to dual-match season in January, when conference play begins in earnest. With four other schools competing \u2014 Boston University, Cornell University, Williams College and Yale University \u2014 \u00a0the weekend provided a crucial gauge of where the Big Green stands heading into the winter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think compared to our first invite we had at the beginning of the fall \u2026 we\u2019ve definitely homed in on a lot of things to work on,\u201d co-captain Waleed Qadir \u201926 said. \u201cThat kind of shows in our results that we\u2019ve had much better day-to-day records in terms of how many we win versus how many we lose.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Malhar Patel \u201929, who finished the weekend 2-1 in both doubles and singles, this progression was evident in Saturday\u2019s performance when Dartmouth went 10-3 as a team. He said the strong showing reflected weeks of practice translating to match play.<\/p>\n
\u201cYesterday was a great day for us,\u201d Patel said. \u201cWe\u2019ve all been playing very well. The energy level is very high right now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Patel, who has played tennis since age seven, the invite provided valuable experience in collegiate competition. Matches began at 9 a.m. and stretched past 7 p.m., with players rotating through singles and doubles across six courts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Patel\u2019s doubles partner for the weekend, Calvin Wang \u201929, mirrored his solid performance while navigating his first fall season at Dartmouth as a transfer from the University of Texas. Wang finished the weekend 2-1 in both doubles and singles. After a slower start to the fall, Wang said his confidence has been building through match play.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPersonally, I think I kind of came in with a little low confidence and then I think it\u2019s starting to build up,\u201d Wang said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wang added that the invites provide opportunities for players to gain confidence through accumulated competitive experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m kind of one of those guys that needs matches under my belt to be able to perform at my best,\u201d Wang said. \u201cThese invites, the regional tournaments, whatever it may be, always help me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The competition was stiffest against Ivy League opponents Yale and Cornell, who the Big Green will see again at the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament in February. According to Qadir, Yale has been a particularly intense rival over his four years on the team.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the last three years, we\u2019ve had very close matches with Yale and they\u2019ve probably been the team we\u2019ve lost close a lot of the times against,\u201d Qadir said. \u201cThey\u2019re [on a] very similar level, they\u2019ve just been a little better \u2026 I think matches against them are definitely a good benchmark for us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wang, who played Cornell twice over the weekend, lost both matches but said that he saw the value in the competitive experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the Ivies come together in February for ECACs, so it\u2019s good to see where we stand,\u201d Wang said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dartmouth graduated four seniors and brought in four freshmen, creating what Qadir described as \u201ca big transition period\u201d that has left the team much younger overall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think invites like these are important, especially for the \u201929s to get more matches and kind of get more experience because that\u2019s something we\u2019re missing compared to last year,\u201d Qadir said. \u201cBut it\u2019s exciting to see them grow and progress throughout the fall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Playing at home provided an additional boost, with familiar courts and the occasional crowd offering support.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have pride to defend our home court,\u201d Patel said. \u201cIt\u2019s always special to play here at Boss. It\u2019s a great facility. Everyone loves it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The team set a goal of winning 75% of its matches during the fall, a target that Qadir acknowledged was \u201clofty\u201d given the range of competition levels the squad faced.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Head coach Justin DeSanto noted that the team finished 63-42 in all matches played in singles and doubles. This weekend, DeSanto said, \u201cis much closer to our 75% goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the team transitions to dual-match season, the focus shifts from accumulating match experience to executing in high-stakes conference play. The Big Green will open with out-of-conference matches in January before heading to California for their spring break trip, then return to play the full Ivy circuit through April and May. The progression Wang described after Saturday\u2019s strong performance, translating practice work into match play, will be essential.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYesterday I had a really good day and I was able to put in what I had been working on, which is why I\u2019ve been making a lot more progress,\u201d Wang said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to Qadir, for a team that has spent the fall developing chemistry and building experience with a young roster, the goal is clear: carry the momentum forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe progression that we\u2019ve seen this invite is something that we want to keep building on,\u201d Qadir said. \u201cEven in the winter, those first few matches in January, we\u2019re still trying to put things together. We\u2019ll keep trying to build all the things we\u2019re still working on right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For several hours last Saturday, the Boss Tennis Center buzzed with the sound of rallies, line calls and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":{"0":"post-267196","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}