Yale, Dartmouth Have Women's Tennis Title in Sights

Yale's Elizabeth Epstein

Photo courtesy of Yale Sports Publicity

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Yale and Dartmouth now control their own destinies for the 2011 Ivy League women's tennis title going into the final matches of the regular season.

Yale (20-4 overall, 5-1 Ivy) and Dartmouth (13-8, 5-1) are tied atop of the standings each with one match remaining. The Bulldogs picked up a crucial 5-2 win over the Big Green on Sunday following a 6-1 win over Harvard two days earlier. Dartmouth edged out a 4-3 win over Brown also on Friday before suffering its first League loss to Yale.

Both teams close out the regular season on the road Saturday, April 23 as Yale travels to Brown (15-8, 4-2) and Dartmouth plays at Harvard (9-8, 4-2). Either team can win the Ivy title outright if the other team falls its final match. Should Yale and Dartmouth both win, the two teams would share the title and Yale would receive the League's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championships by virtrue of its win over Dartmouth. It would give Dartmouth its first-ever Ivy women's tennis title and Yale its sixth all-time and first since 2008.

Should Yale and Dartmouth both lose their final matches, there would be a five-way tie for the title along with Princeton (12-9, 5-2), as Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton and Yale would end the regular season with identical 5-2 League records.

In this scenario, the tie-breaking procedure for determining the conference's automatic bid would be as follows:

- If three or more teams are tied, the team with the best head-to-head record in League matches receives the automatic bid.
The five teams would have identical 2-2 records in League matches against the other four teams.

- If the tie persists among the three or more teams, the team with best head-to-head record in all matches that year against tied opponents in the spring season receives the automatic bid.
The tied teams did play against each other earlier in the spring in the ECAC Division I Indoor Team Championship. In matches involving the tied teams during that event, Yale was 2-0, Brown was 2-1, Princeton was 1-1, Dartmouth was 0-1, and Harvard was 0-2. With these results included, Yale would receive the League's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship with a 4-2 total record against the tied teams.