The No. 11 Tigers are a familiar foe for the No. 15 Bears as they knocked out Wash. U. by the same score in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year. The Red and Green are currently not scheduled to face DePauw again in the regular season.

Wash. U. faced trouble early on as each doubles duo fell to their opponents. Junior Karina Kocemba and freshman Kate Klein, playing together for only the second time, fell 8-1 at No. 1 doubles. Despite the loss, Kocemba is optimistic. “We’ve meshed really well together,” Kocemba said. “I’m loving it…and I think we can only get better.”

Adding to the Bears difficulty were a 8-4 loss by sophomore Natalie Tingir and senior captain Allison Dender at No. 3 doubles and a close 8-6 defeat by juniors Elise Sambol and Jaclyn Bild.

Despite the 3-0 deficit, the conclusion of the match was not foregone. “We had to regroup,” Coach Kelly Stahlhuth said. “We were kind of in shock. We didn’t have much time. We just got back to work.” Last weekend, doubles was the strongest component of play with the Bears sweeping Case Western Reserve. This weekend, singles nearly saved the day.

The wins started trickling in for Wash. U. in singles play as junior Karina Kocemba rolled over Greer Mackie in straight sets at No. 3 singles and sophomore Natalie Tingir downed Tricia Wilks 6-1, 6-3 at No. 4 singles. Freshman Kate Klein overcame a 2-6 loss to Kelly Gebert with scores of 6-3, 6-0 to net another Wash. U. point at No. 2 singles. “We came out ready for singles,” Kocemba said. “Everybody wanted to bounce back. We are just as good as their team. We’ve shown that we can come back from being down.”

The Red and Green rally began losing steam as junior Jaclyn Bild was blanked at No. 1 singles by Janelle Arita. But another hard fought battle between junior Elise Sambol and Courtney Ulrich resulted in Sambol’s 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-2 triumph and gave hope for a Wash. U. upset. The upset attempt was short lived as captain senior Allison Dender fell 6-4, 6-4 at No. 6 singles, sealing the Bears second loss in a row.

The women’s tennis team takes a break next weekend before heading to Sewanee, Tenn. to take on the University of the South on March 6. “We’re going to play a wide range of teams, in and out of our division,” Kocemba said. “It’ll get us going strong into the full season…hopefully it will get us some matches underneath our belts.”

The match will be the first of five during Spring Break. “We just have to put it all together singles and doubles from no. 1 all the way down to doubles 3,” Stahlhuth said. “It’ll be a good test for us hopefully.”

After falling to DePauw four times in the last four seasons, including the 2007 NCAA Championship game, the No. 1 Bears finally defeated the No. 12 Tigers to open the four-team tournament. Both teams struggled on offense, shooting a combined 36.7 percent from the floor. But Wash. U. went on a few key runs to come away with a 57-52 victory.

“It was pretty exciting. Any game against them is going to be a defensive battle…so we knew that, and we executed pretty well, got a couple lucky bounces, and hit our free throws,” said Jaimie McFarlin, a graduate student and co-captain.

Graduate student Jaimie McFarlin drives against Augustana College on Nov. 15. McFarlin had 12 points in a win against DePauw University on Nov. 2, and 12 points in a loss to No. 6 Illinois Wesleyan University on Nov. 21. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

Senior Zoë Unruh tied the contest at 26 with a layup to open the second half, and Berger’s three-pointer with 11:51 remaining in the game gave Wash. U. its first outright lead at 35-34.

The Tigers stormed back to build a three-point lead with just 1:22 remaining, but Hoover erased this deficit with a layup and four clutch free throws, giving the Bears a 55-52 lead with 14 seconds left to play. Lauren Goff missed a three for the Tigers, and Evans finished the game with two free throws.

While the offense never hit its rhythm, the Bears played well on defense, forcing 23 turnovers. Although Evans, McFarlin and Hoover scored 14, 12 and 10 points, respectively, the team shot just 35.5 percent from the floor and 1 for 12 from beyond the arc. The team did outscore DePauw 12-4 from the free throw line, which likely decided the contest.

Wash. U. then clashed with the No. 6 Titans. Fueled by losing on their home floor to Wash. U. in last season’s Elite Eight, the Titans managed a 58-53 win in another sloppy game.

Despite never leading in the game, the Wash. U. defense played well for the most part. The team forced 31 turnovers and held the Titans to 30.2 percent shooting for the night, but foul trouble cost Wash. U. the game. Illinois Wesleyan went 18 for 26 in free throws in the second half, scoring more than half of their 34 second-half points at the line.

Wash. U. shot just 32.1 percent for the game and 25 percent of three-pointers. While Wash. U. tied the game three times, including at 41 with just 4:57 left to play, the Bears could never take the lead.

Evans and McFarlin led the way with double-doubles, with Evans scoring 15 points and grabbing 13 rebounds and McFarlin scoring 12 with 10 boards, but the remaining three starters added just eight points. Sophomore Claire Schaeperkoetter added a career-high 11 points in 20 minutes off the bench.

“We missed a lot of open looks. We didn’t execute against Illinois Wesleyan with 31 team turnovers,” McFarlin said. “You’re not going to win too many ball games with 31 turnovers. We still were in it in the end, which is great and shows the effort of our team, but we didn’t execute at all.”

The Bears return home for the ninth annual McWilliams Classic on Saturday and Sunday. Wash. U. will face the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology on Saturday at 3 p.m. and will play in either the consolation or championship game on Sunday against either the University of LaVerne or Rhodes College.

Senior Alex Beyer competes in the 200 breaststroke. Beyer took first in this event, the 400 IM and was part of the first place 400 freestyle relay team. The men defeated DePauw 151-147. (Jared Bullock | Student Life)

With a first-place finish in Saturday’s last event, the 400 freestyle relay, the men secured a 151-147 win, while the women’s squad bested the Tigers, 155-129.

“The guys came through with a really solid swim. That’s a good way to finish it,” head coach Brad Shively said. “[There was] competitiveness in the relays. I liked seeing the relays out there fighting and scrapping, getting a little down and dirty. I think that’s the sign of a team that’s got some grit.”

The relay, comprised of senior Dan Arteaga, freshman Mark Minowitz, senior Alex Beyer and junior David Chao, finished the close race less than one second ahead of DePauw’s ‘A’ relay in 3:10.07.

“I’m a huge relay swimmer; I get really pumped up especially on anchor leg,” Chao said. “We had to win that relay to win the meet, so I kind of like the pressure.”

The men’s team took first place in seven events in addition to the winning relay and the 200 medley relay. Sophomore Chris Valach won the 1,000 and 500 freestyles. Seniors Beyer and Dima Galkin claimed first and second place in the 200 breaststroke.

Beyer also won the 400 individual medley. Chao took the top spot in the 200 freestyle, and fellow junior Michael Flanagan swept the butterfly events. Chao was also the lone Wash. U. swimmer to win an event against SIUC, taking the 100 freestyle in 47.40.

“We got a couple of victories against two very good teams…I thought it was great. We swam a meet last night, and [the team] didn’t make any excuses,” Shively said. “I thought we swam a lot tougher today than we did [against SIUC]. I just thought we were really competitive, really combative out there.”

The women’s team had victories in 10 events, and several swimmers claimed two individual races. Senior captain Jessie Lodewyk took both distance freestyle events, and sophomore Karina Stridh won the 100 backstroke and 50 freestyle. Three new Bears won events: Freshman Meg Powers swept the butterfly events, Sarah Paleg won the 1-meter diving, and Veronica Tse won the 200 freestyle. Powers expressed excitement for the team’s future events.

“I’m pumped. This is really fun,” Powers said. “We’re definitely very good at getting pumped up…We’re really good at having men’s and women’s [teams] working together.”

Shively noted the teams’ consistency as a key to the wins. With two dual meets in two days, the team worked on moving swimmers in different events to test its strengths.

“I don’t think there’s an event that we have where we are great, and we’re trying to make sure that any event that we’re pretty good at, if it’s a strength, it stays a strength,” Shively said. “We’re also trying to shore up, and we swam people in a lot of different things between [SIUC] and [DePauw] to try and figure out what we have.”

The Bears continue competition on Nov. 21 at the Washington University Thanksgiving Invitational.

Junior John Watts hits a backhand at a match in the Bear's 5-3 victory over Gustavus Adolphus College in the NCAA Quarterfinals. (Matt Mitgang)

Washington University’s men’s tennis team saw their school record setting 19 match win streak end and finished fourth in the NCAA Championships.

The top ranked Bears were upset 5-2 by No. 6 Amherst College in the NCAA national semifinal round on Wednesday. That loss was the team’s first since Feb. 22, setting up another battle with UAA rival Emory University in the third place match.

Emory defeated the Red and Green 5-3 to take third nationally. The Bears held the 2-1 advantage after doubles play as junior John Watts and senior Nirmal Choradia delivered the No.3 doubles point with an 8-2 win. Seniors Charlie Cutler and Chris Hoeland then won at No. 1 doubles. The momentum started shifting as Emory won three straight singles points. Down 4-2, Watts had a 6-3, 2-6 and 6-3 win at No. 1 singles over Michael Goodwin. Emory’s Chris Redmond defeated Hoeland 6-3, 4-6, 1-6, sealing the Bears’ fate.

With Wash. U.’s loss, both teams continued their recent trend of trading wins. Wash. U. defeated Emory in the 2008 NCAA championship match. Emory then triumphed over the Bears in the 2009 ITA Division III Indoor Team Championships in February. Wash. U. captured its first UAA championship in school history after defeating Emory in April.

In the Amherst match, Wash. U. took only one of three doubles points as Watts and Choradia won at No. 3 doubles. Watts delivered the only other point with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Zach Lerner. Amherst picked up wins at the No. 2, 5, and 6 slots securing their trip to the championship match.

Wash. U. cruised through most of the tournament after securing a first round bye. In the second round, the Red and Green swept Carthage College 5-0. The Bears then defeated No. 12 DePauw University 5-0 in the Central Regional Championship match.

The Red and Green encountered some difficulty with No. 9 Gustavus Adolphus College with only a 5-3 win. Sophomore Isaac Stein, junior Danny Levy and Hoeland all picked up singles wins at No. 4, 5 and 6 respectively. Watts and Choradia won at No. 3 doubles while Stein teamed with classmate Max Woods in a victory at No. 2 doubles.

Watts competes in the NCAA Men’s Singles Championships while Hoeland and Cutler aim for the Doubles Championship. First round action begins on May 22.

Junior John Watts, seeded third in Division III tennis and second in the Midwest, who had never lost at this tournament captured his third consecutive title. Watts defeated top-ranked Mike Greenberg of Kenyon College 6-1, 6-0 in the championship match. Watts’ road to the finals included victories against five players seeded in the tournament.

Seniors Charlie Cutler and Chris Hoeland, the fourth-ranked doubles team in Division III, won the doubles title with ease, dropping just 10 games over five matches, culminating in a 7-5, 6-1 victory over sophomore teammates Isaac Stein and Max Woods.

Cutler, the 12th-ranked singles player in Division III tennis who was seeded third in the tournament, reached the semifinals of the singles draw before falling to Greenberg 4-6, 6-1, 6-3. In the quarterfinals, Cutler defeated junior teammate Danny Levy 6-2, 6-2.

Senior Trevis Bowman and Watts reached the semifinals of the doubles draw, losing to Stein and Woods 8-5. Senior Nirmal Choradia and freshman Dushyanth Srinivasan also reached the quarterfinals before losing to Will Gates and Hunter Schouweiler of DePauw University.

“The team did really well. We won just about all there was to win this weekend,” Hoeland, a co-captain, said.

The University also took four of the six back draws. Freshman Chris Gordon won the singles consolation final, junior Corey Yealy and senior Eric Pollak took the consolation doubles final and Pollak defeated Yealy in the St. Louis Singles final, the draw for those who did not qualify for the ITA draws. Gordon and sophomore David Zhu also won the St. Louis Doubles draw.

While the tournament has no impact on team standing, it gives players valuable experience.

“At this junction, it’s good to be playing well as you head into the off-season. You feel like you earn the break…It’s good to see right after the summertime that these guys are playing pretty well and are in shape,” Head Coach Roger Follmer said. “All of the guys can play at a high level and push each other around.”

“With the addition of the freshmen and improvements of returning players, we are deeper than last year. For Charlie and me, at least, we are also playing smarter tennis,” Hoeland said.

Hoeland, Cutler and Watts are all guaranteed All-American honors for winning the tournament and will compete at the Small College National Championships in Mobile, Ala. Oct. 16-19. They will most likely be the top seeds in the tournament for the second straight year.

“It’s really important for Charlie and me since we got demolished last year in the semifinals. We’ll be looking to live up to the one seed. We want to win,” Hoeland said.

While Watts, Cutler and Hoeland will play one more tournament before the end of the fall season, the rest of the team will not be in action before traveling to Drury University on Feb. 14 to begin the spring campaign.

“There are definitely some goals we haven’t achieved,” Follmer said, pointing out that the team is still in search of a national indoor title and its first UAA conference title.