Valparaiso University men’s tennis seniors Jeffrey Schorsch (Perrysburg, Ohio / Perrysburg) and Charlie Emhardt (Carmel, Ind. / Carmel) walked off the court for the final time on Saturday evening with their heads held high.

The best doubles team in Crusader history went out in style, dropping a three-set instant classic to the No. 1 ranked doubles team in the nation, Georgia’s Jan Zielinski and Robert Loeb 6-3, 5-7, 11-9.

The first set stayed on serve through the first four games, but then Georgia broke Valpo’s serve to go up 3-2. The Bulldogs eventually broke serve again in the set’s final game to claim the first set 6-3.

The two teams exchanged breaks early on in Set 2 and ended up back on serve at 5-5. Emhardt and Schorsch came through with a critical point at deuces to claim a 6-5 edge and go up a break. They then held serve to secure the 7-5 win, sending the match to a decisive third set.

Set 3 came right down to the wire, reaching 8-8 and 9-9 deadlocks. Valpo fended off one match point at 9-8, but couldn’t do the same at 10-9, bringing the historic four-year tenure of Emhardt and Schorsch to a halt.

The list of accomplishments for Emhardt and Schorsch the last four seasons goes on and on. Emhardt finished with a program-record 117 doubles wins, while Schorsch owns the program record for career singles victories with 111. Both names can be found all over the program single-season and career record books.

Schorsch became the first player in Horizon League history to win the league’s Player of the Year Award outright three consecutive seasons. As a duo, Emhardt and Schorsch knocked off three teams ranked in the Top 10 nationally, won a match in the team portion of the NCAA Tournament, reached the ITA National Indoor championship match and made it all the way to Saturday’s quarterfinals of the NCAA Doubles Championships.

A career filled with firsts fittingly concluded with another ascent into previously uncharted territory, as Emhardt and Schorsch became the first All-Americans in program history by virtue of their appearance in the NCAA Doubles Elite Eight.

On top of all the individual records, milestones and accolades, Schorsch and Emhardt were a part of the four-member senior class that was the driving force behind turning Valpo’s program around. The Crusaders finished the team season 23-4, setting the program record for wins for the fourth consecutive year.

And perhaps the most fitting statistic of all, Emhardt and Schorsch finished their four-year collegiate careers with exactly 100 doubles wins as a pair. It’s not the end of the road for the dynamic duo, as both plan to pursue professional tennis careers.