In a season filled with accomplishments, perhaps the thing that Upper Arlington High School girls tennis coach Shaun Stamps was proudest of was the way his team hung together after a loss.

After losing to Dublin Jerome 3-1 on Sept. 14 in the second round of the Division I OTCA team tournament, the Golden Bears proved they still could have a successful season.

UA finished 15-2 overall and ended the season with five players at the state tournament Oct. 23-24 at Elysium Indoor Tennis Facility in Plain City. At state, junior Niki Flower became the program's third player to win a singles championship, defeating Cincinnati Ursuline Academy's Komal Safdar 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 in the final.

In doubles, freshman Elaine Cloern and sophomore Caroline Pema lost to Richfield Revere's Natalie Robson and Brittany Miller 6-4, 6-2 in the first round and seniors Paige Murphy and Kara Richardson lost to Rocky River Magnificat's Allie Wasilko and Noelle Kaufmann 6-4, 6-3 in the first round.

"At the beginning of the season, we put together a list of goals: winning the OCC, getting as many people through the sectional and district tournament to the state tournament and winning a state team championship," said Stamps, whose team has won the state team title three times in the last six years.

"The (OTCA) state title is the ultimate goal. Once we lost to Jerome, we had to eliminate that, but we stayed focused on all the other goals."

UA won the OCC-Central Division, going 5-0 record with 58 points.

The Bears won three of five courts at the league tournament Oct. 3, with Flower defeating Dublin Coffman's Ash Thenappan 6-0, 6-0 in the final at first singles, Murphy and Richardson defeating the Shamrocks' Claire Immell and Meghan Letizia 6-3, 6-1 in the final at first doubles and Cloern and Pema beating Worthington Kilbourne's Maria Khrakovsky and Shahana Prakash 6-0, 6-0 in the final at second doubles.

Also at the league tournament, junior Julia Melvin placed second at second singles, losing to Coffman's Ali Tzagournis 7-6, 3-6, 6-3, and senior Annie West finished third at third singles, defeating Thomas' Rachel Webb 6-2, 7-5 in the consolation match.

Coffman (4-1, 47) placed second in the OCC-Central, followed by Thomas Worthington (3-2, 23), Kilbourne (2-3, 23), Hilliard Davidson (1-4, 18) and Hilliard Darby (0-5, 6). UA advanced six players to district and its five state qualifiers tied Magnificat tied for the most participants at state. The Bears hadn't had as many state qualifiers since 2005, when six players advanced out of district.

UA loses four players to graduation in Richardson, Murphy, West and Megan Knoop.

Knoop sustained an ACL tear during the Canfield Doubles Classic on Aug. 22 and didn't play the rest of the season.

"Paige has been for four years and she got to learn from such role models as Sydney Bridger and Stacey Cox," Stamps said. "She learned from their strengths and weaknesses what a captain should be.

"All the seniors set a good example for the younger players. Good (leaders) are role models inside and outside of the court."

The Bears expect to return their singles lineup of Flower (first), junior Adrienne Jenq (second) and Melvin (third) and the second doubles team of Cloern and Pema as well as junior Dani Smart, sophomore Grace Buse and freshman Andi Smart.

"I kept 12 players on the varsity so the ones who are returning know how hard it is and what it takes to play on the varsity level," Stamps said.

"They got their feet wet this year and next season they have to step it up."

"We've got some new people coming in," Pema said. "We might mix up our lineup to be successful."