And that’s just how the team wanted it.

Senior tri-captain Erin Albers reached her 1,000th career kill while freshman Kelly Pang set a school record for digs in a single season. Both milestones were overshadowed by another spectacular weekend of play from the Bears as a whole, who took three wins here at the Wash. U. Field House in the NCAA tournament Central Regional. The Bears advance to University Heights, Ohio, with a chance to play for a national championship.

The Bears defeated Webster University on Thursday night (25-17, 25-14, 25-27, 25-15) and took out St. Mary’s University on Friday (25-21, 24-26, 25-18, 25-22). With one win between them and a trip to the NCAA finals, the team saved its best performance for last as it took out No. 8 Carthage College in straight sets (26-24, 25-23, 25-12) on Saturday night.

“It’s fantastic. This weekend was very high energy,” sophomore Lauren Budde said.

Budde was the star of Thursday night’s game, as she racked up a career-high 22 kills to go along with 12 digs, four aces, and 1.5 blocks in helping the team dispatch of Webster in the first round. With the exception of the third set, in which the Bears were defeated 27-25, the team had jumped well ahead by the mid-point in each set and controlled the game.

Friday night was when Pang had her time to shine, as she registered 18 digs to put her over the school’s single-season high mark set by Nicole Hodgman in 2003. Her strong play helped the Bears through what proved to be a fairly close match against St. Mary’s.

Saturday night was when Albers reached her big mark when she put down her second kill of the game. After fighting out two very close sets against Carthage, the Bears came out firing on all cylinders in the third set, making quick work of the No. 8 team in the nation and punching their tickets to Ohio.

Some were very impressed with the individual records set by the team this weekend.

“When you get a thousand kills, that shows consistency,” head coach Rich Luenemann said. “For her to accumulate 1,000 kills for a middle blocker/attacker is an astronomical feat.”

“And how about Kelly Pang?” he added. “She set a record for digs in a season when it’s harder to accumulate digs,” referring to the fact that when the record was set in 2003 the team played more games in the season and played 30-point sets instead of 25.

But some players downplayed their individual accomplishments.

“To be honest, it doesn’t feel like a whole lot of anything,” Albers said. “This game is what we wanted and we came out here and got it, and that’s what I’m really excited about. Everybody picked it up tonight.”

“It feels really good,” Pang said, “but I think the win feels a lot sweeter because we’re one step closer to our goal.”

Pang, who led the team with 60 digs on the weekend, and Budde, who tallied a team-high 47 kills, were named to the Central Regional All-Tournament Team. Freshman Marilee Fisher was named the region’s Most Outstanding Player after setting 128 assists while also posting 17 kills and eight blocks.

The team plays Colorado College in the NCAA quarterfinals on Thursday at the DeCarlo Varsity Center at John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio.

“We all want to win for each other,” Budde said. “We’ve stressed that in practices. Play as one. Give 100 percent every time for your teammates. Everybody did phenomenal, and everyone did a great job taking their game to the next level.”

With additional reporting by Johann Qua Hiansen

Charlie Cutler follows through a backhand in the NCAA quarterfinal against Gustavus Adolphus College. The Bears won the match 5-3 to reach the tournament semifinal. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

The team captured its first University Athletic Association title on April 17 with a 5-4 win over rival Emory, ending a 19-year streak of conference titles for the Eagles. The Bears also ran the table for a school record 19 match winning streak, took second at the national indoor championships and finished fourth at the 2009 NCAA Division III National Championship.

“Those accomplishments give us confidence and experience in those big situations that other teams may not have. But as we saw this year, even teams that are new to the tournament, such as Amherst, can surprise everyone,” said Max Woods, a rising junior.

The Red and Green entered the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 overall seed and blew past Carthage College and DePauw University without dropping a match in at the Tao Tennis Center. The team then traveled to Claremont, Cal. for the round of eight. After a 5-3 win over Gustavus Adolphus College, the Bears met their match against Amherst College.

Top singles player John Watts won at third doubles with Nirmal Choradia 8-1 and then at first singles 6-1, 6-2, but the Bears would drop the remaining matches to the Lord Jeff’s.

The rematch with Emory in the third place match proved no better, as the Eagles avenged a conference loss with a 5-3 victory. Watts won both of his matches and Charlie Cutler and Chris Hoeland took first doubles. Emory rallied from the early 1-2 deficit by winning 4-5 completed singles matches to take third place.

“Fourth place was disappointing. However, Amherst played amazing in the semifinals, and we can’t be dwelling on that match when the season starts anew,” Woods said.

“It was a new position for the program to be in [as] the top seed heading into Nationals. I definitely feel everybody learned something about themselves and the program in order to improve upon it next time around,” Head Coach Roger Follmer said.

The WU/Emory matchup featured the top two teams in the nation, and Follmer believes that the Bears ended their season with a loss to the best team in the Division III even though the University of California at Santa Cruz won the national title.

“No disrespect to Santa Cruz; but if Emory learned how to play better doubles at some point this past spring, they would have been in the final. In our case, we just didn’t play up to our signature standard level of doubles during the final eight portion of the NCAA Tournament,” Follmer said. “I feel that we can learn from Santa Cruz and the urgency that they played doubles with for next spring to get our team in position to capture another team title.”

Despite the 0-2 finish, the 2009 graduating class leaves a legacy unprecedented in Wash. U. tennis. Aside from the team accomplishments, Hoeland graduates as the all time doubles leader in wins and a two time All-America in doubles. Cutler was named All-America three times in doubles and twice in singles, and all six seniors graduated with career winning percentages over 0.500.

For Follmer, the legacy left behind by Cutler, Hoeland, Choradia, Trevis Bowman, Eric Pollak, and Mark Partridge goes beyond career numbers.
“I am so proud of the legacy that the graduating seniors left for the WU men’s tennis program. WU tennis history was truly written in their seasons on the Danforth campus…It will be big shoes our returning players will be filling without question” ,Follmer said. “However, I feel that the seniors taught the underclassmen just what it takes to play with the best in D-III. Now it is just up to them to put in the time and make the necessary sacrifices to keep expanding upon the legacy.”

The 2009-2010 season tentatively begins on Sept. 18 with the three day Wash. U. Invitational. For the second year in the row, the Bears will then host the 2009 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Fall Regional Tennis Championships on Sept. 25-28 at the Tao and Dwight Davis tennis centers.