After successfully qualifying four players to the ITA Cup, women’s tennis fell short in the tournament. (Dylan Whiting | Contributing Photographer)

Coming off of last year’s national championship, the WashU women’s tennis team suffered its first setback in the fall season. Just last year, the team became immortalized as the first in WashU history to be the last squad standing in all of Division III tennis. Heading into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Cup, one of the largest annual collegiate tennis tournaments outside of Division I, the Bears showed confidence following a strong showing in the ITA regionals. This time, however, the Bears came up short.

The Bears sent four representatives to the ITA Cup, which takes place annually in Rome, Georgia. Last year’s championship University of Chicago squad sent fewer representatives, so this was a record showing for WashU. The competition at the ITA Cup is stiff from the get-go, with no easy path or draw for any program. Qualifying is an accomplishment, but WashU missed an opportunity to assert itself in the new season.

With entrants in both the singles and doubles categories, the Bears were unable to get out of the opening draw in doubles, with the No. 2 doubles duo of sophomore Caitlin Bui and junior Eleanor Archer, as well as the duo of sophomore Ally Lin and senior Eliana Hanna, falling in the opening round. Hanna, ranked just out of the top eight in singles, managed a two set, 6-3, 6-3 win in the first round of singles before bowing out in the quarter finals. 

“We came into ITA Cup as the number one seed. Our opponents knew our games, weaknesses included, and we struggled, especially at the beginning,” Archer wrote in a statement to Student Life. “We have big goals for the spring, and this tournament was good for us to see what we need to work on so we can make them happen.”

In doubles, WashU’s stronger category, the Bears did not go down easily. Archer and Bui clawed back after losing the first set 6-3 to win the second 6-4, before falling 10-7 in the tiebreaking final set. Lin and Hanna similarly worked back a win in the second set after dropping the first in the opening round, but they lost the decisive third 10-6 to a doubles team from rival Emory University. 

The ITA Cup and subsequent World Tennis Number Dwight Davis College Open were the final games in the Bears’ fall season, so women’s tennis will not play until February. They still have belief in themselves, however, and maintain confidence that this weekend is something to build on in the coming months.

“The team just continues to get stronger,” Archer wrote. “We have the skill to win another national championship, and we know we can make it happen if we are willing to put in the work, starting with the offseason.”

The Bears are still a force, ranked No. 2 in their region, behind only the University of Chicago. They’ll have to execute better than they did this past weekend, though, if they hope to fulfill the ultimate goal and repeat as champions in 2025.