History was staring the Bears right in the eye as the Emory Eagles prepared to serve.

The last time Washington University faced a nationally ranked top-ten team in a five game match, they lost to Juniata. The last time they had lost a match to a UAA foe was to Emory in 2005.

The situation seemed dire as the Eagles had the first opportunity to win the match at 14-13. But history did not repeat itself as Wash. U. fought back to narrowly beat Emory, the sixth best team in the nation, 16-14 in the final set.

The clean sweep of University of Rochester, New York University, Brandeis University and Emory University over the weekend, along with its earlier wins, places Wash. U. as the first seed in the UAA Finals in November. Particularly impressive, the Red and Green have only lost four UAA matches in the 20-year history of the UAA.

Lady Bear action saw the Red and Green wiping away NYU and Rochester in 3-0 sweeps. The Bears dropped the first against Brandeis, coming back to win every remaining set by a margin of five points.

Wash. U. has been constantly improving the middle hitter position since the beginning of the season, after losing last year’s starters.

“We’re the biggest team on improvement,” said senior middle hitter Ellen Bruegge. “They [middle blockers] have stepped it up, making us more versatile.”

“With Ellen Bruegge, Erin Albers, Nicole Penwill and Marya Kaminski there, it’s becoming a formidable part of our offensive and defensive systems,” said Head Coach Rich Luenemann. “As we head [toward] the final third of the season, it’s nice to see many aspects of our game clicking.”

This weekend, the team really came together and the middle hitters shined.

“Albers was a monster this weekend,” said Coach Rich Luenemann.

The sophomore, with 14 kills out of 16 attempts, had an .812 attack percent setting a new individual match high in accuracy and a career high in kills against the University of Rochester.

Her teammates had much to say about her outstanding performance.

“Every time we were able to get the ball to her, she found a way to score,” said junior setter Audra Janak.

“All she had to do was get the ball over the net for a kill,” added junior outside hitter Ali Crouch. “We all gave her a hard time about her only hitting error in the Rochester game.”

Albers also had three solo blocks as well as four block assists in the game against Rochester, with 21 blocks in all. Albers received University Athletic Association (UAA) Athlete of the Week Honors for her performance.

In addition to Albers’ fantastic weekend, the team had another solid weekend. Outside hitter Nikki Morrison set the team high with 16 kills in a match while outside hitters Alli Alberts and Haleigh Spencer and Bruegge all had double-digit kill counts.

Janak also came close to tying her career high in assists, missing the mark by only three, to contribute 55 assists against Brandeis.

The fifth-ranked Bears return to St. Louis to face the Division II University of Missouri-St. Louis Riverwomen tonight at 7 p.m. at UMSL.

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