After another weekend of tennis on April 12-14, the No. 24 WashU men’s team came away 2-1, notably beating Division I Creighton University. The No. 14 women’s team won one and lost one, with both teams losing to The University of Chicago. 

Men’s Tennis

The men’s tennis team began their weekend at home against D-III opponent Hendrix College from Conway, Arkansas. In a match interrupted and relocated to Principia College 40 minutes away due to rain, the Bears still came out strong, sweeping Hendrix 4-0. 

After relocating to the Principia indoor courts, WashU started well, sweeping the doubles sets to take a 1-0 lead. 

Seniors Stefan Hester and Pato Garcia Muriel won 6-3, senior Scott Yamamoto and sophomore Daniel Radke won 6-2, and juniors Colin Fox and Eric Kuo wrapped up the strong start for the team, winning 6-1. 

In an abbreviated singles section that only continued until either team won, which meant the match finished as soon as possible, the Bears won the first three singles matches to gain the necessary four points of a potential seven to win. Sophomore Nathan Tam, at the No. 6 singles spot, won first with a score of 6-1, 6-3. Hester then came out on top in straight sets 6-0, 6-1. Finally, the No. 33 D-III singles in the nation and junior Colin Scruggs came back to win 3-6, 6-0, 6-3.

Saturday morning, the Bears fell to No. 4-ranked conference opponents UChicago 3-4. The match started out less than ideally as all three doubles pairings lost their sets; Kuo and Fox came the closest, losing 4-6. 

Needing to win four out of the six singles matches, the Bears fell just one match short of completing a comeback. Senior John Fakouri won 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 at the No. 6 singles spot, and Kuo and Scruggs also won three-set affairs. However, the Bears could not take any more points from the Maroons. 

On Sunday, WashU faced D-I opponent Creighton University. The Bears swept the Bluejays 4-0. The men won two of three doubles sets, with the pair Hester and Garcia Muriel and the pair Kuo and Scruggs winning 7-5. 

In the singles section, the Bears won the first three matches that concluded, wrapping up a 4-0 decisive scoreline. Kuo at the No. 1 spot won 6-2, 6-3. Hester at the No. 2 won 6-3, 7-6, and Yamamoto at the No. 3 won 7-5, 6-2.

The men’s team continues a stretch of home games after this, with three remaining before the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships. A doubleheader awaits on Saturday, April 19, with a morning match against Greenville College and a match against Grinnell College in the afternoon. Monday against McKendree University is the team’s last regular season match.

Women’s Tennis

The women’s trip to the Chicago area started out with a flawless victory against North Central College. The doubles section saw the Bears only drop two games against the three sets. The duo of sophomore Eleanor Archer and first-year Caitlin Bui continued their strong form, winning 6-1.

Bui spoke on the strength of her partnership with Archer, one that brought an Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) doubles championship back to WashU.

“I do think it’s nice that we’re close in age,” she said. “I thought that that was really helpful, especially at first getting to know each other and first playing on the court. It wasn’t as intimidating, and it kind of just all fell in place, to be honest. I think we match really well on the court, especially when I’m at the baseline and she’s at net.” 

Juniors Amber Edmonds and Eliana Hanna won by the same scoreline, and first-years Chloe Brissett and Sam Slowik won 6-0, securing a simple early point.

The singles portion followed the same storyline as all matches were won by the Bears in straight sets. Archer and Bui playing separately won 6-3, 6-1 and 6-0, 6-0, respectively. First-year Ally Lin won 6-0, 6-1, sophomore Emily Chiasson won 6-0, 6-0, and Edmonds won 6-0, 6-1. The closest match was played by junior Nina Moravek, who came out on top 6-4, 6-4. 

Saturday saw a contest against the No. 1 ranked team in the country, UChicago, to whom WashU lost 1-6. In doubles, the Bears were just unable to pick up the point. The pairing of Archer and Bui were able to win their doubles matchup 7-6, but Edmonds and Hanna could not win their tiebreak, losing 6-7. Slowik and Brissett also lost 3-6.

The team struggled in singles as well, with only Bui being able to win her match against a Chicago team that features three players in the top 25 for singles in the nation. Lin took No. 2 Clara Zou of the Maroons to a third set tiebreak, losing 4-6, 6-3, 5-10. Archer, Hanna, Moravek, and Chiasson lost in straight sets, however. 

“Before even going to the match, we knew that they’re an incredibly tough opponent, especially being ranked No. 1,” Bui said. “But we didn’t let that intimidate us, and we still stepped on the court with confidence and belief that we could win. And a lot of the courts, although we did end up losing, were very close, and literally just a couple points could have changed the trajectory of each match.”

With these matches, the women’s team has concluded away play for their regular season and have two matches left at home. WashU plays Trinity University on Friday, April 18, and Grinnell College the next day, which is the WashU team’s Senior Day.  

“I’m just really excited to play these last couple of matches before conference and give it all on the courts this weekend before heading into conference,” Bui said. “I’m personally looking to work on what my coach has been emphasizing the whole season, just making one more ball into the court and not being intimidated no matter what the score is and just playing with confidence and having the belief that you can win.”