Junior John Watts and seniors Chris Hoeland and Charlie Cutler finished in third place in the singles and doubles competitions respectively at the 2008 Wilson/ITA National Small College Championships held this past weekend in Mobile, Ala.

“We were disappointed not to win the tournament,” Cutler said, “but we definitely had a good fall season and can’t be too upset with our results.” Watts, the top seed and defending champion of the event, fell in the semifinals 6-4, 6-3 to eventual champion John Kauss of Gustavus Adolphus College.

Watts had defeated the University of California-Santa Cruz’s Max Liberty-Point 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of play to advance to the semifinals. In the third-place match, he topped Conrad Olson of Middlebury College 6-4, 6-4. Kauss defeated Emory University freshman Chris Goodwin 6-2, 6-3 to win the title.

Hoeland and Cutler, also the top seeds in the doubles draw, finished third at the event for the second year in a row. They beat Bobby Cocanaugher and Cory Kowal of Trinity University 6-4, 6-4 before falling to Kauss and Mike Burdakin 5-7, 7-6 (5), 10-5 in a semifinal match that lasted nearly three hours. The team rebounded to beat Amrit Rupasinghe and Ben Stein of Bates College 7-6 (2), 6-4 for third place. Kauss and Burdakin fell to Goodwin and his older brother Michael in the championship match 7-6 (3), 6-1.

The conclusion of this tournament effectively ends the fall season for the Bears. They will play next on February 14 against Drury University, currently ranked third in Division II tennis, in Springfield, Mo. Official practices will begin again in January.

If the fall season serves as an indicator, Wash. U. seems poised to make a run at defending its national title. No one graduated from last year’s team, and three singles players made it to the quarterfinals of the fall regional championships, as did four doubles teams. There were also seven seeded singles players and four seeded doubles teams in the same tournament for the Red and Green. The doubles regional championship match was an all-Wash. U. affair with Cutler and Hoeland defeating teammates Isaac Stein and Max Woods, both sophomores, 6-1, 7-5 for the title.

“We had a really good fall,” Cutler said. “We dominated the region across the board.”

“We have a very good team from top to bottom,” Watts added.

Perhaps winning the team’s first-ever UAA title will be just as difficult of a feat as defending their national title. Emory again looks to be among the toughest competition for the Bears at both levels.

“[The conference title] is one of the things we really want to win,” Hoeland said. “We were really close the last two years, and Emory has won it 20 years running.”

During the off season, the Bears will continue to focus on the more important spring season, highlighted by their goals of winning the elusive UAA title and another national title. “For me, it feels like I have much more to accomplish this year,” Watts said.

“From last weekend and regionals, I definitely feel like we can realistically go after other not yet reached goals like an Indoor National Championship in late February…and/or conference title this April,” Head Coach Roger Follmer said.

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.