After an up and down 2009 season, the Virginia Tech women's tennis team lost the first match of the ACC tournament and just missed the NCAA tournament.
"I think overall it was a good season," said head coach Terry Ann Zawacki-Woods. "It definitely could have been better."
The team finished with a winning record of 13-11, but held a losing record within the ACC at 3-8. Despite their losing record in the ACC, it was the highest finish the team has seen since the arrival of Zawacki-Woods.
"I definitely wish we could have just got a couple more of those wins under our belt," she said. "I really feel that it would have been a huger success."
The team lost three seniors at the close of the season: Inga Beermann, Jessica Brouwer and Abbey Walker.
Beermann, who finished the year with 17 singles wins and 21 doubles wins said, "We started off with a bang,"
"I think we started off 8-0 and didn't even lose a match our first five games," she said. "We just had such a fun team this year."
"We had a lot of freshmen who had a lot of potential and showed a lot of talent," she said. "They had a lot of heart and definitely contributed to the success we had. I would consider it one of the most successful seasons as a team that I've had since I've been here."
Of her four years as a Hokie, Beermann's most memorable was her freshman season.
"I came in with no expectations pretty much," she said. "I knew I was good. I played number one all four years, and I think I was the first one in Virginia Tech history to make NCAAs in singles."
Beermann concluded her career ranked fourth in career singles with 80 individual wins. She also tied for second in doubles wins with 75 during her career.
Her highlight of the season occurred at the beginning of the season this January.
"We started off in Texas beating Iowa 7-0. I guess nobody expected us to win because we're such a young team. Just winning that so easily and playing so well," she said. "You could see the hard work paid off."
Senior Day against Wake Forest was an especially emotional day for Inga this spring.
"We beat Wake Forest; it was a big upset for us," she said. "They were ranked 37, and we bet them."
"I had a big doubles win, a big comeback. Unfortunately, I lost in singles but I played the same girl four days later at ACCs. I got my revenge and beat her," she said.
After beating Wake Forest in the last match of the season, the Hokies went on to face them four days later in the ACC Championships in Cary, N.C.
Virginia Tech was not as successful in its second meeting with Wake Forest.
"It was disappointing," Zawacki-Woods said. "We had just beaten Wake Forest a few days before. It's really tough to go back out and beat them two times in a row.
"Wake is definitely a good team. They're a top-40 team. They are in the NCAA tournament," she said. "So I think it's still a win that we could have had, but I think Wake Forest just played better than we did that day."
Senior Jessica Brouwer, who partnered with sophomore Holly Johnson against Wake in doubles, said, "We lost our doubles, unfortunately."
"Not our best doubles," she said.
"Singles-wise, I played a lot better. I lost pretty quickly the first time, and this time I got a three setter out of it," she said.
Brouwer earned a nationals singles ranking late in the season this spring and was ranked in doubles for the majority of the dual match season.
"We did pretty well," said Brouwer. "I think we're still ranked 75."
As for season totals, Brouwer ended with 16 singles wins and ended her career tied for sixth in doubles victories at 67.
"I had a great win over number 28 from Duke," she said. "I played a lot of ranked people and was really close every time."
"I'm going to miss the whole team thing," said Brouwer. "Tennis is such an individual sport. It's really fun to have more people around you and be really close to a certain amount of people."
Beermann had similar feelings as she said, "Practice, I'm going to miss sometimes. I'm not going to miss getting up early and all the time you have to put in. I'm probably going to miss the team the most."
As for next year, "We want to keep improving," Zawacki-Woods said. "We want to be in that post-season play in the NCAA tournament. That's a goal that I still feel is very attainable and that we're going to keep striving for."
"The underclassmen will now have a year under their belt," she said, "so we're looking forward to them stepping up into some higher positions."