The beauty of college golf is its incorporation of a team aspect within an individually driven sport. Success in collegiate golf stems from a solid team performance.

That aspect was more evident than ever this weekend for the fourth-ranked UW men’s golf team. Despite dominating performances by juniors Darren Wallace and Nick Taylor at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, the Huskies were eliminated from the NCAA championships in a 3-2 match-play loss to Arkansas.

After qualifying for the eight-team match-play tournament that determines the team champion, the Dawgs faced off against the Razorbacks in the quarterfinal match. Wallace started the day with a birdie on the first hole and never looked back as he won his match 6-and-5 against Arkansas’ Ethan Tracy.

Taylor, while not as dominant as Wallace, got the job done against Arkansas’ Andrew Landry. After halving the first two holes, Taylor took four of the next eight holes en route to a 3-and-2 victory.

“Darren [Wallace] and Nick [Taylor] were awesome today,” head coach Matt Thurmond told reporters Friday. “They came out from the very beginning, and neither of their opponents felt like they had a chance to beat them.”

Junior Chris Killmer started hot with a birdie on the first hole but found trouble on the third and fourth hole. He could never recover as he lost 3-and-2 to Jason Cuthbertson. Sophomore Tze Huang Choo also lost 3-and-2 to Arkansas’ Jamie Marshall.

With the match tied at two apiece, junior Richard Lee and Arkansas’ David Lingmerth battled for the win. Lee, who shot a 2-under 69 a day before, couldn’t come up big again as he double-bogeyed the 17th hole to lose 2-and-1, giving the Razorbacks a 3-2 win.

“We think about all the moral victories at some point down the road but not today,” Thurmond said. “We did not get the job done. We did not hit the big shots we needed to hit. The other team did, and we feel the better team didn’t win today.”

The Dawgs are unfamiliar with match-play format, and Thurmond said the team lacked the toughness needed for a match play-directed tournament.

“We have to get a lot better at it,” Thurmond said. “It is a different mentality than stroke play. It is a different toughness that is required, and we need to get tougher.”

This was the first year the NCAA decided to incorporate a team match-play format to determine the team champion. Despite the struggles the UW encountered in the new format, Thurmond loved the new style of the tournament.

“[The match-play format] was awesome,” Thurmond said. “It is the best way for college golf to be played.”

The disappointing loss ends a remarkable season for the Dawgs. In the three-round stroke play tournament, the Huskies tied for third, which matched the best in the program’s NCAA tournament history.

During the regular season, the UW won five tournaments, including a dominating 18-stroke win at the Pac-10 championships.

Next year, the UW will bring back all five members of its starting lineup, including the star trio of Taylor, Wallace and Lee. Taylor, the Co-Pac-10 Player of the Year, will try to improve next year on his ninth-place finish at this year’s NCAA championships. It will be his final season as a Husky.

Wallace will also return for his final year. The junior should be a big part of next year’s squad, after establishing himself as one of the Pac-10’s best players with a medalist finish at this year’s Pac-10 championships.

Lee will bring his tough mentality to the team next year as a senior. During the regular season, Lee posted the second lowest scoring average on the team with an average of 72.51 strokes per round.

Killmer, junior, and Choo, sophomore, will also return next season as the UW hopes to improve on its successful 2009 season.

Reach reporter Taylor Soper at sports@dailyuw.com.