Mary Butkus | WUSTL Photo Services

Junior Adam Putterman plays at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center Friday, Sept. 16, 2011. Putterman won the ITA/USTA Central Region Men’s Tennis singles championship this weekend, dropping just one set all tournament.

In a field of 128 players at the ITA Central Regional Championships, No. 9 seed junior Adam Putterman of the Washington University men’s tennis team won seven consecutive matches over four days to take the singles title.

With the victory, Putterman qualifies for the USTA/ITA Small College Championships in Mobile, Ala., on Oct. 13-16.

In Monday’s championship match, Putterman disposed of No. 16 C.J. Williams from Kenyon College, 6-4, 6-3. Putterman characterized the match as a battle of nerves.

“I felt pressure because a lot of people came out to watch. I really, really wanted to win,” Putterman said. “[Williams] made a few errors, and I managed to steal the first set. In the second set, I think he was a little nervous because he had lost the first.”

On his road to the finals, Putterman ousted No. 1 seed Paul Burgin from Kenyon College and No. 13 Sam Miles from DePauw University. Putterman cited his composure on the court and recently improved service game as huge factors in his success so far.

“I have been serving really well, and I’ve been playing very mentally tough,” Putterman said. “About three times a week I get on the court before practice and serve buckets for about 45 minutes. I think that’s been the main difference.”

The Bears fared very well in the rest of the singles draw, with freshman Ross Putterman reaching the semifinals, junior Gary Parizher reaching the quarterfinals and junior Bryan Haywood and freshman Kevin Chu reaching the fourth round.

On the doubles side, Chu and sophomore Max Franklin dropped the finals match in a 6-2, 5-7, 10-7 effort. Chu and Franklin defeated teammates Adam and Ross Putterman, 9-7, in the semifinal match.

“Overall, we had a lot of energy, and it was nice to play well,” Franklin said. “I learned a lot from losing last year, and figuring out how to win without necessarily the best-looking strokes, and [Chu] has got all the skills necessary, so everything kind of clicked.”

In preparation for the spring season, head coach Roger Follmer constantly evaluated doubles pairings, as he has always preached that doubles play is crucial to success in the spring. With two doubles teams reaching the semifinals, Follmer was encouraged by the team’s performance.

“Even though we didn’t win the tournament, Franklin and Chu, and the Puttermans, and the rest of the gang, they played some good doubles,” Follmer said. “Last fall we didn’t play good doubles at this tournament, so in the past two, three weeks of preparation, we put more emphasis on doubles, and it showed.”

The fall season is also the team’s first opportunity to establish its new identity. With leaders Isaac Stein and Max Woods graduating last spring, the Bears are left with only one senior, Cameron Chiang, and a relatively young team. Nevertheless, Follmer and the rest of the team are confident that key juniors and sophomores can step into leadership roles.

“There hasn’t been a special meeting or anything like that, but I have pulled a couple of the juniors aside and said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to be leaders,’” Follmer said. “I expect all the juniors and our lone senior to be leaders, and they’ve done a pretty good job so far.”

Nathaniel Margolies | Student Life

Senior Max Woods serves the ball against UMSL on April 13. Woods stepped into the No. 1 singles role on Saturday and boasted a win over No. 21 Juan Carlos Perez.

The No. 6 Bears started off the day with a 3-0 sweep in doubles for the seventh time this season. Sophomores Gary Parizher, Kareem Farah and Bryan Haywood, along with freshman Tim Noack, each took straight-set victories in third, fourth, fifth and sixth singles, respectively. In first singles, senior Max Woods boasted an impressive win over No. 21 Juan Carlos Perez, 6-4, 6-4.

Farah, who won his singles match 6-0, 6-0, improved his singles record to 16-5 on the season. At fourth singles, Farah exemplified the edge that the Bears own in singles depth.

“I was just using my strengths well, hitting my serve well and hitting my forehand well,” Farah said. “[Grinnell] is not the toughest team on our schedule, so it just wasn’t as difficult of a match as some of them in the past.”

Woods stepped into the No. 1 singles role, which usually belongs to senior Isaac Stein, for the third time in the past three weeks. Stein has been suffering from a bulging disc in his lower back, which has limited his playing time, but head coach Roger Follmer has tried to give Stein enough match play to qualify for the NCAA Championships.

“I planned on playing the same lineup as we did at UAAs, but then Isaac said he was supposed to get an injection on Friday, [the day before the match]. You are supposed to have 48 hours in between when you get the injection and when you compete,” Follmer said. “I asked if he could get the injection on Wednesday or Thursday, but he couldn’t get the injection any earlier, so I said ‘OK, you’re going to play doubles for sure, but [I] don’t think it’s a good idea for you to play singles.’”

In singles, players have an incentive to face highly ranked regional opponents to improve their own regional ranking. Therefore, removing Stein from the lineup hurt Perez’s opportunity to face the No. 12 singles player, but gave Woods a chance to face one of the top players in the region. Follmer emphasized the fact that removing a top player from the lineup so late is usually a faux pax, but in this instance, he had no choice.

“It was pushing it even to put [Stein] in doubles, and I felt bad about pulling him out of singles, but I had to,” Follmer said. “I purposely did not coach Max during his match though. I felt bad about the whole situation.”

Despite the change in game plan, Stein and Woods put together an 8-2 win at No. 1 doubles. Follmer believes that Stein’s injury made him more aware and inclined to take advantage of opportunities to shorten points.

“It reminded me of last year’s [ITA Central Region tournament] when Isaac had the flu, and we pulled him out of singles because he couldn’t do both [singles and doubles],” Follmer said. “He wasn’t 100 percent, just like now he’s not 100 percent, but it forces you to be more aware of getting first serves in and playing smart. On [Saturday], that was as good of doubles as I have seen.”

The Bears will host their fifth annual Special Olympics Clinic from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, and will cap off the regular season on Saturday, May 7 against No. 19 DePauw University. After that, the team has its sights set high.

“I think it’s pretty simple,” Farah said. “I expect to win a national championship.”

Nathaniel Margolies | Student Life

Senior Max Woods serves the ball against UMSL on April 13. Woods and No. 1 doubles partner senior Issac Stein were 2-1 over the weekend at the UAA Championship.

This marked the sixth consecutive year in which Wash. U. met Emory in the finals of the UAA Championships and the second time this season that the Bears fell to the Eagles in the finals of a tournament (after the ITA National Indoor Championship on Feb. 20).

The Bears headed into Sunday’s match against Emory riding a seven-match winning streak, but they dropped all three doubles matches and the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 5 singles matches to seal the loss.

Seniors Isaac Stein and Max Woods lost a nail biter, 8-6, in No. 1 doubles to the second-ranked doubles team in the nation. Following that match, the No. 2 doubles team of junior Cameron Chiang and sophomore Kareem Farah led 7-6, but then dropped the last three games in a 9-7 defeat. Sophomores Gary Parizher and Adam Putterman lost 8-0 in the final doubles match.

“It’s obviously a big rivalry,” Stein said. “[Emory] made very few mistakes and they executed the big points better than we did.”

The Bears, who pride themselves on strong doubles play, plan to use this loss to make adjustments to deal with top teams later in the season.

“[Emory] brings high energy in doubles, and they just shut us down this time,” Woods said. “We have to work harder on our serves, and we need to work on finishing off points at the net and bringing the energy every time.”

In Saturday’s semifinal match against Chicago, the Red and Green avenged a 5-4 loss on April 2 that snapped its four-year home winning streak at the time.

“We were just extremely focused and very motivated,” Stein said. “There was a little extra motivation for us because we wanted to get revenge for that loss, and we were rock solid from the top to the bottom to get the victories we needed.”

In their earlier matchup with Chicago, the Bears were swept in doubles, putting them in a hole entering singles play. This time, the Bears led 2-1 after doubles, giving them an edge for the rest of the day.

“We came out prepared this time,” Woods said. “The big thing that we learned is that we have to be prepared and work hard in doubles.”

Friday’s sweep of Case Western provided a confidence booster that the team needed to propel itself further through the tournament.

“They are an up-and-coming team, with a lot of good players, and they have been winning some big matches this year,” Woods explained. “We came out well-prepared and fired up, and it was a great feeling to beat them.”

The Bears (14-5) will take on Grinnell College on Saturday, April 23 at the University of Missouri-St. Louis courts.

The Bears defeated National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) No. 24 Lindenwood University, 6-3, on Friday, and No. 18 McKendree University, 5-4, and Principia College, 9-0 on Saturday.

“These are the kinds of matches you need prior to an important weekend coming up with [University Athletic Association Championships] next Friday,” head coach Roger Follmer said. “Guys continued to play solid singles. Whoever would go out there, No. 1 to No. 6, was ready.”

Despite playing lower-ranked opponents, the Bears confidently agreed that these matches were simply preparation for the UAA Championships.

“I think we went into this weekend expecting to win all three matches,” sophomore Kareem Farah said. “These were kind of tune-ups for our UAA Championships.”

On Saturday against Principia, the Bears did not drop a set in any match as they swept the Panthers. Follmer re-inserted No. 1 player Isaac Stein into the lineup for both singles and doubles, after suffering a back injury, to give him an opportunity to win individual matches against regional opponents, which is a huge factor for qualifying for the national championships in late May.

“You need regional wins because [Stein] and [Woods] are in the mix in both singles and doubles,” Follmer said. “I don’t want to shoot them in the foot to qualify for the national championships.”

Against McKendree, the team dug itself an immediate hole, losing all three doubles matches. Stein sat out for the second game, but, once again, the Bears won five out of six singles matches to snap McKendree’s 14-match winning streak. Sophomore Adam Putterman, who moved up to No. 2 singles for the day, led the charge with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win, and sophomores Gary Parizher, Farah, Bryan Haywood and freshman Tim Noack also won their respective singles matches.

“It’s a different spot and, obviously, the players are better,” Putterman explained. “I learned a lot from the [Lindenwood match] about being patient and making fewer errors, and I tried to apply [what I learned] to the second match. It seemed to help a lot.”

The Bears lost two of three doubles matches to start the day on Friday, but responded by winning five of six singles matches to pull out the victory against Lindenwood. Senior Max Woods embraced his opportunity as the No. 1 singles player, posting a 6-2, 6-3 victory. Parizher, Farah, Haywood and freshman Naveen Chadalavada all won their singles matches in straight sets as well.

“We really don’t have any holes in singles,” Follmer said. “Whoever we put out there, they are doing a good job.”

The Bears have hit a rough patch in doubles recently, evidenced by a 7-14 record over their last seven matches. However, Follmer, who has built the men’s tennis program around strong doubles and has emphasized doubles in practice recently, is confident that the team will recapture its old winning habits soon.

“We put enough focus and talk enough about [doubles] that I think it’s a matter of time before we get going,” Follmer said. “If we go to [UAA Championships], and get swept three times in a row, then I will be worried. But right now, I think it’s just a matter of time before good things start happening.”

As the season heats up, the Bears will face off against the University of Missouri—St. Louis on Wednesday before heading to Waltham, Mass., for the UAA Championships on Friday.

The No. 5 Bears hosted the No. 15 University of Chicago at the Tao Tennis Center on Saturday, but fell 5-4 to their conference rivals. The team’s last loss at home came on March 11, 2007.

The Bears started the day losing all three doubles matches, putting additional pressure on singles play. This was the first time all season that Wash. U. has been swept in doubles.

“When you play the top teams, you have to be ready for doubles,” head coach Roger Follmer said. “We thought we were ready, but they played better than us [on Saturday].”

Despite falling to an early deficit, the Bears responded with a valiant singles effort, winning four out of six matches. Senior Isaac Stein battled back after losing the first set to take a 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 victory in No. 1 singles, and senior Max Woods took care of business with a convincing 6-3, 6-0 win in No. 2 singles. Sophomores Gary Parizher and Kareem Farah also posted victories in No. 4 and No. 5 singles.

“Singles is more about composure, and I think we showed that,” Stein said. “In the second set [of my match], I stayed composed and fought through it. I knew if I kept playing solid tennis and kept being aggressive, [my opponent] would eventually break down.”

Nevertheless, the team refused to shift its focus from its uncharacteristically weak doubles play.

Year to year, Follmer consistently preaches that doubles is the key to defeating top opponents. While he expressed confidence in the current doubles combinations and said that he does not plan to mix up the teams, he still believes there is work to be done.

“The guys now need to know that in the next two weeks [leading up to the University Athletic Association Championships], we will spend more time on doubles than ever, and if they need things to work on outside of doubles, then they can do that on their own,” Follmer said. “The team time will be spent going back to the drawing board and working on some basic stuff in doubles: serves, returns, volleys and communication with your doubles partner.”

The team also hosted the first annual Campus Kids’ Day on Saturday, featuring a fastest serve contest, a target serve contest, and a raffle with prizes. The next community event that the Bears will sponsor is its annual Special Olympics clinic on April 30.

“We always get a great turnout for [the Special Olympics clinic]. People from all over Missouri come in for that,” Follmer said. “I know all the guys on the team are excited about that as well.”

The Red and Green will have a chance to avenge Saturday’s loss when they take on NAIA Lindenwood University on Friday, April 8, at the Tao Tennis Center.

“We just need to work on some basic stuff in doubles, but if we do that I think we’ll be fine,” Follmer said.

Washington University is now 8-4 on the season.

Daniel Eicholtz | Student Life

Then junior Isaac Stein hits a forehand against Graceland University last season. Stein, the top singles player for the Bears this season, leads a roster of players that has never lost to an opponent at the Tao Tennis Center. The team last lost at home on March 11, 2007.

The Bears have not lost at the Tao Tennis Center since March 11, 2007, exactly four years prior to the upcoming match against the Bearcats.

“I’ve been forewarned by the [University of Missouri-St. Louis] coach, who is in the same conference as Northwest Missouri State,” head coach Roger Follmer said. “He said he thinks they are actually favored against us. I know this will be a tough match.”

Seniors Isaac Stein and Max Woods, who are the Bears’ No. 1 and No. 2 singles players and comprise the team’s No. 1 doubles team, are proud of their undefeated mark at home.

“I think the streak means something for both our coach and our program,” Stein said. “It’s something we are really proud of. We have played some very quality opponents on our courts, and we will need a very solid team effort [on Friday].”

Woods compared Northwest Missouri State to Drury University, who defeated the Bears, 6-3, on Feb. 6.

“They are both extremely tough teams,” Woods said. “We have to make sure we are prepared so that when our time comes, we’re ready to go.”

Follmer explained that the key to beating Northwest Missouri State is to steal the momentum early in the doubles matches, which are played first, so that the team can establish the mental edge heading into singles play.

“I really like it when we really go after teams and try to win and break their resolve,” Follmer said. “We play with heart but also break down and expose their weaknesses. That’s one of the things we’ve worked on.”

This Friday will also be an important opportunity for the team to make a statement: that it has moved on from the John Watts era. Watts, who graduated last spring, is also the Bear’s all-time leader in singles wins, doubles wins and overall winning percentage. He completed his career as the 2010 NCAA Division III National Singles Champion.

However, after losing to the University of Califonia-Santa Cruz three consecutive times during the Watts era, Follmer cited the Bears’ 5-4 victory over UC-Santa Cruz on Feb. 19 as proof that the current team has established its own identity. After this victory, Follmer received a congratulatory e-mail from Charlie Cutler, a former Wash. U. tennis player, who graduated in 2009 with the second-highest overall winning percentage in Wash. U.’s history.

“Awesome to see you finally took down Cruz,” Cutler wrote. “It looks like the team is shaping up pretty well, even without Watts this year.”

The Bears will have to rebound quickly from Friday’s match, as they turn around the next day and play No. 9 Graceland University. Wash. U. has beaten Graceland each of the last four times they have played, but Follmer stressed the fact that no team should be underestimated, especially a team ranked in the top 10.

“Our team goal and mission statement is to treat everybody with respect, but not to fear anybody,” Follmer said.

After this weekend, the Bears will take a seven-day hiatus from action before returning to campus to prepare for a rematch against UC-Santa Cruz on March 25 in San Antonio, Texas.

The Bears responded in convincing fashion, taking four of seven singles flights and one of three doubles flights against the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Truman State University and Principia College.

Freshman Naveen Chadalavada complied a 3-0 record in singles play to win the No. 3 singles flight. Chadalavada also teamed up with freshman Max Franklin to win three doubles matches and take the No. 1 doubles flight.

“I feel like I was hitting the ball a lot better this weekend than I have in a couple of weeks,” Chadalavada said. “I was serving a lot better. The forehand was coming around. Hopefully I can do that the rest of the season.”

Franklin finished 2-1 in singles overall. After losing his first match on Friday, he did not drop a set in his next two matches.

“I’ve been working a lot with coach [Follmer] on volleys, getting in to net on doubles and taking returns early,” Franklin said. “My mental approach has also gotten better. [I am] staying level-headed on the court and staying consistent throughout the match.”

Senior David Zhu, freshman Jeffrey Hirsh, and sophomore Seth Sankary each posted 3-0 singles records and won flight Nos. 4, 5 and 6, respectively. Freshman Tim Noack continued his impressive first season, posting a 2-1 record in singles. Sankary and Noack also went 2-1 in doubles.

“[Noack’s] composure on the court is the best on the team. The guy doesn’t get rattled,” head coach Roger Follmer said. “You know what you’re getting out of Tim Noack when he steps on the court. He’s going to battle. He’s not going to fold under pressure.”

Follmer believes that this weekend’s performance not only proved that some of his young players were ready to be significant contributors this season, but also set an example for the rest of the team about the importance of heart and commitment.

“You can see a little bit of the ‘eye of the tiger’-type thing, especially in Max [Franklin] and [Tim] Noack. I love to see that, and it’s contagious for other guys on the team to see that,” Follmer said. “When you play a ranked team, I’d like us to just go out there and play as hard as we can, and those guys are good examples of that. They’re going to play hard, and you’re going to have to beat them.”

Follmer described the freshman class as “quiet and sneaky,” in that they were not the highest ranked recruits, but they have embraced the mentality that hard work and composure on the court enables them to compete with any opponent.

“It just comes down to how bad you want it, and those guys have shown that [they want it],” Follmer said. “Who cares who you beat in the 16s and the 14s [high school competitions]? Who are you beating today? These guys are starting to step up and show that they can beat guys that are four-star recruits on other teams.”

The Bears will try to adopt this mentality when they return home to face Division II No. 20 Northwest Missouri State at the Tao Tennis Center on March 11-12, at 3 p.m.

After defeating No. 9 North Carolina Wesleyan University 8-1 and No. 5 University of California, Santa Cruz 5-4, the No. 6 Bears dropped the championship match of the 2011 Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Division III Men’s Team Indoor Championship 6-3 to the No. 4 Eagles.

The Bears now stand at 4-2 on the season, with all six matches played against ranked Division III and Dvision II opponents.

Wash. U. jumped out to an early lead on Emory on Sunday, winning the first two doubles matches. Junior Cameron Chiang and sophomore Kareem Farah picked up an 8-3 win in second doubles, and sophomore Adam Putterman and freshman Max Franklin staved off Emory’s No. 3 doubles team, 8-3. The Bears lost six of their next seven matches, however.

“It was a pretty horrible loss,” Putterman said, “especially when you get an early lead like that and you see the potential to have an upset. They’re our rivals. It’s a heartbreaker.”

In a matchup against the No. 1 player in the country, Emory’s Dillon Pottish, senior Isaac Stein was defeated 6-4, 6-2 at first singles, and senior Max Woods lost to Chris Goodwin 6-1, 7-5 at second singles. Farah was the only Bear to win a singles match against the Eagles, overcoming Eric Rothschild 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 10-8 at sixth singles.

Head coach Roger Follmer saw the loss as a learning experience and an indication of what the team did well and where it can improve.

“When you lose, you learn more,” Follmer said. “Our doubles were definitely super strong, but we just need to focus on fitness, quickness, eating choices, endurance and those kinds of things.”

On Saturday against Santa Cruz, the Bears continued their strong doubles play, with the teams of Woods/Stein and Chiang/Farah winning their doubles matches. Putterman and Farah also boasted straight-set singles victories, in addition to sophomore Gary Parizher’s three-set singles win.

Follmer remained cautiously optimistic but refrained from being overconfident, as the Bears will face Santa Cruz again on March 25.

“There is no question we had the best doubles [teams] there, but that’s just one snapshot,” Follmer said. “In order to repeat and beat Santa Cruz outdoors, we need to work on some things because they are definitely going to be coming at us, and we will have to be ready for that test.”

Farah posted 3-0 records in both singles and doubles over the weekend. Although he was primarily used as a doubles specialist last year, Farah entered the season with a chip on his shoulder to prove he can be a force in singles as well.

“Coach asked me particularly this year to prove myself both in a singles match and a doubles match on any given day,” Farah said. “So, I came into this weekend with the intention of proving myself.”

After this weekend’s strong showing, the Bears feel confident that they have asserted themselves as one of the teams to beat on the national circuit this season.

“We’ve erased any doubts that we are not a contender to win it all,” Putterman said. “Obviously we want to go into every match taking it one individual match at a time, but I think potential-wise we have the ability, the talent and the work ethic to take it all.”

The Bears will put this confidence to the test at the Principia College Tournament this weekend in Elsah, Ill. Play begins on Friday at 8 a.m.

“This tournament just shows that if we work on the things we need to work on, we are absolutely in the running to win a national championship,” Farah said.

Matt Mitgang | Student Life

Junior Dylan Richter goes up for a layup against New York University on Friday night. Richter scored 20 points in the win.

The Judges’ tough, quick interior defense forced the Bears to rely on their perimeter game for consistent offense. Senior Caleb Knepper rose to the challenge and exploded for 28 points, including 17 in the first half. Knepper hit seven of his first nine three-point attempts and finished the game 8-of-12 from beyond the arc. Junior Dylan Richter also scored 21 points.

“I’m ecstatic right now,” Richter said. “We knew coming into this game we needed to win one of the next two to have a winning season. We’ve lost a lot of close games, but we really wanted to get that win to solidify that, so it was a big relief.”

While the Bears struggled to win close games early in the season, head coach Mark Edwards explained that this game represented a significant reflection on the season and a major step in the team’s development.

“We played hard, we played with a lot of heart, we made some mistakes along the way, but we never quit believing, and we never quit playing together,” Edwards said.

On Friday, the Bears came back from an 11-point deficit during the second half to defeat the Violets. Richter led the surge with 20 points and 16 rebounds, recording his first career double-double. Senior Spencer Gay contributed 18 points and 11 rebounds.

“We’ve got enough talented players that on any given night, we have someone, if we need it, to play big,” Richter said. “We are all just trying to get some wins.”

Gay sat out for a combined three minutes over both games. Gay, who has scored in double figures in 22 of the team’s 24 games this season and leads the team with 16.4 points per game, has embraced his role as the workhorse of the team.

“I don’t really get tired. It’s fun being out there,” Gay said. “I spent my first few years sitting on the bench, so whenever I want to sit on the bench, I just remember what it’s like. I like to be on the floor.”

Though they won both games, the Bears struggled from the free-throw line, shooting only 55.1 percent from the stripe this weekend. The team understands that free throws provide the easiest way to close out games.

“Free throws are something we’ve harped on a lot this year,” Richter said. “It’s really an easy thing. It’s all mental. We’re all going to come in these next two days we have off and practice [free throws].”

The Bears will prepare to cap off the regular season at home at 3 p.m. Saturday against the University of Chicago. This will be the final game for seniors Gay, Knepper, Isaiah Honick and Brett Sapp.

“These kids are a joy to coach,” Edwards said. “They understand the nature of competition, and that’s why they’re playing basketball.”