The home-court advantage of the Dwight Davis and Tao Tennis Centers offered no help to the Washington University women’s tennis team at the 2010 United States Tennis Association/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division III Women’s Tennis Central Regional on Oct. 1-4. No player advanced past the fourth round of the 128-player singles tournament that featured 30 programs from across the Midwest.

“We were really close in some of the matches we didn’t pull off. With a little more time practicing, we might have been able, when it got close, to win those. To start off this way with a young team is great,” head coach Kelly Stahlhuth said.

Sophomore Kate Klein, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, appeared on her way to the quarterfinals before a comeback from No. 15 Prita Kidder of Kenyon College. Kidder rallied from a 0-6 first set to win the match 0-6, 7-6, 6-3. Prior to defeating Klein, Kidder also defeated sophomore Katie Helfgott 6-4, 6-1 in the third round.

Freshmen Betsy Edershile, Evelyn Qin and Corrine Rauck and sophomore Paige Madara also reached the third round without dropping a set before losing to higher seeded players. Junior Natalie Tingir also lost in the third round, falling to No. 3 seed and eventual champion Jennifer Kung from rival University of Chicago, 7-5, 6-2.

Freshman Theresa Petraskova and seniors Kalee Cassady and Elise Sambol all won their first round matches before exiting the tournament in the second round while sophomore Brittany Trimble lost in the opening round but reached the consolation final before losing to Jane Lent of Denison University, 6-3, 1-6, 1-0.

While no player made a run at the singles title, the team was satisfied with the overall play and noted that many players on the very young team advanced into the middle rounds of the tournament.

“I think everybody played really well. We were really prepared for it. We did a lot of work, especially in doubles,” Tingir said. “The competition is a lot tougher. I think in general, we saw the returning players from other schools. We had some of our up-and-coming people [playing well].”

In doubles, Edershile/Qin and Cassady/Rauck reached the quarterfinals and set up the only intrasquad match of the day. Edershile/Qin won fairly easily 8-3. The duo then fought hard against Li Linden/Carmen Vacaguzman, but the Maroons defeated the Bears again, 8-6.

Klein/Tingir advanced to the third round before losing a close match to the top-ranked team of Kendra Higgins/Chrissy Hu from the University of Chicago 8-6. In an all-Maroon final, Higgins/Hu defeated Linden/Yacaguzman 6-4, 6-3.

The teams of Pentraskova/Sambol and Madara/Thimble also reached the third round.

With the fall season now over, the Bears will focus on conditioning and practicing indoors when possible. The spring season begins on Feb. 19 for the Bears against the Maroons at Kings Point Racquet Club in Belleville, Ill.

“We’re definitely looking forward to Chicago. The last few years, they always beat us pretty badly, but we played pretty well against them at the ITAs,” Tingir said. “We had some opportunities but didn’t capitalize. I think we can play really well against them.”