The Washington University volleyball team extended its winning streak to a season-high 15 matches Oct. 22 at the Field House, knocking off Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville in three sets. With the win, the No. 2-ranked Bears, who have not lost in over a month, upped their record to 25-3 on the season.

The Bears had even more to celebrate Oct. 19 against Brandeis. With the win, head coach Rich Luenemann racked up his 750th career win. Yet Luenemann dismisses the milestone.

“If I’ve been successful, it’s because of the incredibly positive, hard-working, and dedicated student-athletes I’ve been blessed to work with,” Luenemann said. “It’s so gratifying watching the growth and improvement of the players. 750 just means that I’m older than dirt.”

On the surface the Bears have rolled during their long winning streak, but Luenemann sees things differently.

“The second UAA round robin at Rochester wasn’t a cakewalk,” Luenemann said. “We beat Emory in five games and had toÿcome back from a three point deficit late in game five to win the match.ÿ

“In our final match of the competition we faced New York University.ÿThey entered the match undefeated, and we were able to beat them 3-1 to hand them their first loss of the season.ÿWe were very dominant at times during that match. If we sustain that level of play, we’ll contend for the National Title in December.”

Junior outside hitter Colleen Winter led the way for the Bears chalking up 20 kills, a team season high. Senior right side hitter Cindy McPeak also chipped in with ten kills and five digs. At the same time sophomore setter Kara Liefer continued to shine, racking up 48 assists to go along with seven kills and six digs.

The Bears are looking forward to some time off before the final push to the playoffs.

“We’re going to enjoy ourÿweekend off. We’ve incurred some nagging injuries that alwaysÿpop up at this time of year,” said Luenemann. “The rest will be well-received.ÿWe’ll return next week with refreshed bodies and begin the push for postseason play.”ÿ

While the Bears return to action on Halloween in their last home invitational of the year, the playoff push does not start until a week later.

“The UAA tourney in New York will be the first step,” Luenemann said.ÿ”We believe we’ll be ready.ÿI can’t anticipate that anyone in Division III has faced a tougher schedule than the Bears.ÿWe’ve played the best, learned to deal with adversity, and are better for the experiences.”

Luenemann likes the Bears chances during the streak run this year and looking down the road to next year.

“Kara Liefer, our setter, continues to improve,” he said.ÿ”She’s become exceptionally adept at attacking second balls…probably the best at that skill in all of Division III. Our middles, Katie Quinn and Amy Brand, are the backbones of our offense.ÿCindy McPeak is such a dynamic player.ÿ When she’s hot, she’s a huge sparkplug for the team.ÿ

“Colleen Winter is the best passer in Division III and is the keyÿingredient in our serve receive success.ÿIshi Ballew and Heidi Pfeifferÿare sharing the other left side position opposite Colleen. They’ve improved immensely over the course of the season and score well from the outside.ÿOur second team is very talented too.ÿThey’ve beatenÿthe first team in practice matches, so the future of the Bears program looks bright.”

Popularity: 1% [?]

 Print This Post

This entry was posted on Monday, October 27th, 2003 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.