Following a routine victory in the quarterfinals, the No. 8 Washington University women’s tennis team dropped two close matches against ranked opponents to finish in fourth place at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) Division III indoor tournament.

The Bears defeated No. 17 Skidmore College 8-1 on Friday to advance to the semifinals before falling to No. 7 Carnegie Mellon University, 5-4, on Saturday and No. 12 University of Chicago, 6-3, on Sunday. With the fourth-place finish, the Red and Green are now 3-2 on the season and 2-2 against ranked opponents.

The ITA tournament, this year hosted by DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., featured top-tier programs such as No. 4 Johns Hopkins University in addition to Carnegie Mellon and UChicago, schools that are both University Athletic Association rivals of Wash. U. Such a concentration of competitive programs this early in the season was a source of excitement for the Bears.

“We were very pumped up for this tournament,” junior Jamie Silverberg said. “We felt strong going into the weekend. We were excited to get some competitive matches in against top-ranked schools.”

Seeded third in the tournament, Wash. U. kicked off play on Friday with an 8-1 win over Skidmore. The Bears’ doubles teams were able to sweep doubles play, and the Red and Green then won five of the six singles matches to top off the victory.

On Saturday, the Bears had a tougher time against second-seeded Carnegie Mellon. The Red and Green faced a 2-1 deficit after doubles play, but they rallied to take a 4-3 lead after freshman Grace Deering won in fourth-flight singles. After the Tartans tied it in No. 5 singles, the match came down to sophomore Kaylan Griffith at No. 6 singles. Although Griffith was able to force a third set, Carnegie Mellon was able to secure the 5-4 victory with a 6-0 triumph in the final set.

For the second year in a row, the Bears were unable to overcome the hurdle posed by Carnegie Mellon. Last season, the Tartans beat the Bears twice, first a 6-3 victory in the first round of the 2014 ITA Indoor Championship and again in the UAA semifinals by the same score.

“We really wanted to take down Carnegie [Mellon],” Silverberg said. “We have not been as close to beating them as we came this time in a while.”

The loss against Carnegie Mellon dropped Bears into the third-place match, where the Bears could not keep up with UChicago after the exhausting Saturday series. The Maroons jumped out to an early lead by winning two out of three in both doubles and singles play. In the final three singles flights, senior Hanna Newstadt started the Bears’ comeback bid with a straight-set victory to bring the match to 4-3, but the Maroons secured fourth and sixth flights to ice the win.

Silverberg, who played in both singles and doubles on all three days, noted that fatigue was a factor as the tournament progressed.

“My body was a bit tired, but I would say that it is more mentally exhausting,” Silverberg said. “There are so many ups and downs throughout these matches. So much at this high level is staying focused and mentally tough.”

The team hopes to use the ITA tournament as preparation for more important matches down the road.

“To prepare differently for next time, I think we need to capitalize on big moments,” junior Aly Coran said. “If we keep working hard in practice as well as having a positive attitude on the court, we can definitely improve against these teams in the future.”

The Bears only get a short reprieve from high-level play, however, as they travel to Claremont, Calif., next weekend to face off against Kenyon College, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges and the University of Rochester.