The No. 3 Bears traveled across the river to Belleville, Ill., on Friday evening and put on a dominating effort, posting a clean 9-0 sweep of McKendree University at Kings Point Racket Club.

With months of training between seasons behind them, the team was eager to get back out there and face some real opponents.

“I think everyone was really excited to get out there and start playing instead of just waking up early [for practice.] It was great to get the season opener underway, and it was good to get a win under our belts,” junior Adam Putterman said.

As head coach Roger Follmer often preaches is important, the Bears got off to a good start in doubles by winning all three matches. The top doubles pairing of junior Adam Putterman and freshman Ross Putterman won the first match, 8-6. Senior Cameron Chang and sophomore Max Franklin eked out a 9-8 (7-2) win in second doubles, and junior Gary Parizher and freshman Kevin Chu finished out the doubles portion of the meet with an 8-2 victory in the third doubles match.

“We really wanted to get out to a good start in doubles and keep that energy up through singles,” sophomore Tim Noack said. “Doubles is something we struggled with a bit last year, and we were really excited to go in with a lot of energy in this first match and win doubles.”

The Bears got some more strong efforts in the singles portion of the match, as all six players took down their McKendree opponents without too much trouble. Competing in singles for Wash. U. for the first time since coming in second place at the DIII USTA/ITA Singles Championship, Adam Putterman managed a three-set victory (6-4, 1-6, 10-5) over McKendree’s Barnabas Toth in the top doubles matchup.

“I felt like I’m starting to play like I was in the fall again, which is what I was hoping for, and now I can focus on getting better,” Adam Putterman said on his win.

Ross Putterman made quick work of the second singles matchup, taking a (6-1, 6-0) decision over Paulo Goncalves. Parizher picked up a (6-3, 6-3) win in third doubles, beating Alexandre Schuck of McKendree, and junior Kareem Farah won the fourth singles matchup over Luciano Misitrano in three sets, (6-2, 4-6, 10-3).

Wash. U. closed out the singles portion of the contest with a pair of quick two-set victories, as junior Bryan Haywood took out David Venditto (6-2, 6-0) and sophomore Tim Noack swept Jake Halde (6-0, 6-0).

“I was a little nervous going into it. I did play pretty well. I think McKendree was missing a few players, and we possibly weren’t playing their best lineup,” Noack said. “But I went out and played my game. I’m working on my serve quite a bit right now, but I served very well.”

While it’s still early in the season, the Bears are pleased with their progress and the results out on the court, and they felt it was good to get some match action under their belts.

“Playing that match, even though we ended up winning all the matches, kind of tells us a lot about where we were, preparation-wise, and you see a lot of things that you don’t get the chance to see in practice,” Adam Putterman said.

Wash. U. will be back out on the court on Sunday when they face Drury University, the No. 19 team in Division II. The match will begin at 1:00 p.m.

“We’ve lost to them I don’t even know how many times in a row, so we’ll definitely be looking forward to that match,” Noack said.

Fox is a world-champion cup stacker and put those talents on display at halftime during the men’s basketball game on Friday night. Fox’s whole family takes part in the sport, including his father, Bob, who founded the company Speed Stacks, and his sister, Emily, who had held a world record time in multiple stacking events as recently as 2006.

Fox sat down to chat with Student Life about the origins of his talents.

Student Life: So how did this all get started?

Brennan Fox: Well, [cup stacking] was invented in 1980 in Oceanside, Calif., at a Boys & Girls Club. My dad saw it in 1990 on the “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson. He ended up becoming a P.E. teacher and introduced it to his P.E. classes in 1996. So that’s how I got involved in it. I started stacking when I was six years old. He introduced it to his classes, and it got so popular; all the students really enjoyed it. So he ended up making his own company out of it called Speed Stacks. I’ve done a couple of commercials for Speed Stacks. I was on the box [for the product], and the set itself was sold in Target and Toys“R”Us and Wal-Mart. So I did a commercial promoting the sport. I’ve also done a cellphone commercial in South Africa. I got to travel around the world doing all different kinds of events and stuff. It’s really cool.

SL: Can you go through some of the details/sets of cup stacking for us?

BF: The standard set has 12 cups, and there are different stacks you can do. In competition there’s three different stacks. There’s a 3-3-3, a 3-6-3, and the last one is called the cycled stack, which is a 3-6-3, then a 6-6, then a 1-10-1, and you end at a 3-6-3. In competition there’s individual racing against a clock and head-to-head relay races with a team.

SL: What have those competitions been like?

BF: It’s kind of cool how those competitions have evolved over the years. I started stacking when I was six years old, and my dad started to introduce it to other people. It started out pretty small, at my elementary school, and it grew to a state tournament, then a national tournament, and now there are world championships. I haven’t competed since high school, and now I just do it for fun, but while I was in high school I stacked for Team USA against people all over the world. We ended up beating Germany in the head-to-head in the world finals.

SL: So your dad essentially got that whole worldwide competition started?

BF: Pretty much. He started his own company and just expanded it to this world competition. It’s pretty cool. It kind of caught fire internationally, and it’s also big in the United States, too.

SL: Did he have any idea that was going to happen?

BF: He had no idea. He just knew that when he introduced it in his classes that kids really enjoyed it so he decided to make his own company out of it, and it’s been pretty successful.

SL: Do you think there are some particular skills that this requires, or is it just something that gets better with practice?

BF: It’s actually pretty easy to learn; it just takes a lot of practice to get good at it. A lot of it helps with your hand-eye coordination and your ambidexterity, using both sides of your body and brain. I’ve played football here for four years, and it really helps on the football field catching a football or using your hand-eye coordination. There are studies out there that say it’s actually pretty beneficial with sports.

SL: Do you help your dad with the company now?

BF: When I was younger, in elementary school, middle school, high school, we would travel all around the world promoting it. We would go to different P.E. conferences and promote it to different people. Because that’s where the main market is, P.E. classes in elementary schools. So we’d promote it through that, but I also traveled across the world. I’ve been to London a couple of times, on a couple of TV shows, and promoted it there. I’ve been to Europe a couple of times. So I’ve helped out promoting it by traveling and doing stuff like that.

SL: Are there any other crazy or extreme stacks you’ve done for fun or in competition?

BF: In competition it’s just the main stacks you do. Just for fun, when I was younger, we used to build towers that were about six or seven feet tall.

SL: Does your dad have any sort of goals as to where it’ll go from here? Obviously you guys have taken stacking pretty far, but is there anything else you guys have in mind?

BF: One ultimate goal, which would be pretty cool, would be to have it in the Olympics one day. The way it’s grown, it’s been pretty cool to see, and it is a competitive sport. To see if it could have the potential to make it into the Olympics, that would be pretty cool to see how it goes. But just to have it keep expanding, I guess, around the U.S. and globally, is a goal.

SL: What’s been your favorite experience in all of this?

BF: My favorite moment, I think, in competition, was when I was a senior in high school and I was an anchor on the U.S. national team and we beat Team Germany in the international challenge. It’s always been a tough challenge between us two. And I guess just throughout doing it, it’s been fun traveling around the world…It’s been a fun thing to do growing up and it’s been a fun thing to share with people here at Wash. U.

SL: Have there been any times [other than this past Friday] you’ve been able to stack here on campus?

BF: I’ve done it for my friends before and taught them, which is fun. I’ve actually been working with the football team. We talk to other high schools, football teams in particular. We’ve been working with the Jason Foundation, which deals with teen suicide, and we’ve gone and talked to them, using stacking as a platform. That’s been a cool opportunity. And it’s been fun to share when people ask if I have any unique talents.

The men’s and women’s squads both beat out Illinois Wesleyan University (IWU) and the University of Chicago for a pair of close wins at the Illinois Wesleyan Triangular, with the women’s team’s 119 points barely edging out IWU’s 117 and the men’s team’s 138 points putting them ahead of IWU’s 119.

Back in Bloomington, Ill., for the third straight meet, both sides got strong performances in both the track and the field events to help them pull away victorious.

Among the six winners on the women’s side was senior Erica Jackey, who took first place in the mile run with a time of 5:06.40. Jackey’s other appearance on the day was another successful one, as her second-place time of 2:14.14 in the 800-meter run was good for a Wash. U. school record.

“I had zero intention of trying to set the school record. I had no idea till a couple hours after the meet. It was my first 800 of the season, and I felt good coming off the mile. It was a really awesome race, and I’m excited,” Jackey said.

Freshman Lucy Cheadle (5:13.95) finished right behind Jackey in the mile in her only event of the day, as did senior Liz Phillips (2:17.09) in the 800-meter run.

Four other individual winners highlighted the day for the women’s team. Sophomore Ahkianne Wanliss won the 55-meter dash in 7.57 seconds, senior Molly Wawrzyniak took the 3000-meter run in 10:23.87, and sophomore Anna Etherington won the pole vault for the second straight week at 3.30 meters. Sophomore Jasmine Williams tied for first in the high jump at 1.61 meters, and those points gave Wash. U. the win after the initial tally of points for the event was incorrect.

The women’s distance medley also finished in first place with a time of 12:25.28.

“Chicago is really competitive, and IWU is an amazing team. The fact that we beat them is awesome. They’re highly ranked nationally,” Jackey said. “I thought it was an awesome meet for us.”

Nine different winners paced the men’s side to their 19-point victory as the team actually won more events (nine) than it lost (eight). Contributions came in across all of the different kinds of events. In the sprints, junior Ryan Doll (6.67 seconds) finished first in the 55-meter dash and sophomore Arthur Townsend (50.99 seconds) won the 400-meter dash. Senior Tyler Jackson also took the 55-meter hurdles with ease, though his time of 7.82 missed his season-high mark of 7.66 set the previous week.

In the longer-distance events, three more Bears came out on top. Sophomore Austin Vanbastelaer’s 4:23.50 won him the mile run, sophomore Kevin Sparks finished first in the 3000-meter run in 8:40.67, and freshman Andrew Catanese won the 5000-meter run in 15:08.68.

Finally, Wash. U. had another three athletes coming out on top in the field events. Senior Justin Pieper won the high jump again at a height of two meters, freshman Nicholas Alaniva’s 4.42 in the pole vault gave him a win, and junior Tom Arnold took the shot put with a throw of 13.67 meters.

The teams will travel to Terre Haute, Ind., next week for the Engineer Invitational hosted by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. The meet will begin at 12:30 p.m.

“I think people are already doing great, but everyone across the board—you’re going to see improvement,” Jackey said. “Everywhere we’ve had a great start, and everyone’s going to get better individually, and we’ll get better as a whole.”

After their yearly winter-break trip to Florida, the Bears took part in a pair of meets over break. On Wednesday, Jan. 11, the men’s team headed to Crawfordsville, Ill., and handled Wabash College by a score of 182-94. The Bears were victorious in 12 of the meet’s 14 swimming events.

Freshman Zane Turpin’s three individual victories (in the 500- and 1000-yard freestyle and the 200-yard butterfly) led the way for the Bears, with sophomore Brian Carpenter (victories in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke) and junior Brendan Morin (50-yard freestyle, 100-yard butterfly) chipping in two apiece as well.

Only two days later, the men’s and women’s teams took part in their final home meet of the year, the Washington University Invitational. The women’s team finished as the runner-up out of seven teams, with the men’s team coming in third place in a field of eight schools.

Despite not pulling any first-place finishes, the men’s team was competitive in several events. In distance events, freshman Luke Dobben and senior Chris Valach took second and third in the 500-yard freestyle, and Dobben also finished second in the 1650-yard freestyle. Carpenter claimed second place in the 100-yard breaststroke, Turpin was runner-up in the 200-yard butterfly and 400-yard individual medley, and senior Billy Griffitts took second in the 100-yard backstroke.

The women’s team was paced by four winners: freshman Sara Taege in the 500 freestyle, sophomore Jennifer Tartavull in the 100 freestyle, sophomore Grace Murray in the 1650 freestyle, and sophomore Allison Siegel in the 50 freestyle. The women’s 200-, 400- and 800-yard freestyle relays all took second place, and the 200-yard medley relay of sophomore Chi Pham, senior Catherine Rafferty-Millett, Murray and Tartavull took third place.

Wash. U. will travel to Elsah, Ill., on Friday to face Principia College at 6 p.m.

Track teams win seven events at Titan Opener

The men’s and women’s indoor track teams had their first meet of the new year on Saturday at the Titan Opener hosted at Illinois Wesleyan University. While the meet was not scored, both teams put forth a number of quality performances.

The women’s team was highlighted by a school-record performance by senior Elizabeth Phillips—her 1:35.78 in the 600-meter—and a first-place finish in the pole vault (at 3.51 meters) from University Athletic Association Athlete of the Week sophomore Anna Etherington. Freshman Lucy Cheadle and sophomore Katy Barron went one-two in the one-mile run, and senior Erica Jackey took first in the 3000-meter run.

On the men’s side, senior Tyler Jackson’s time of 7.66 in the 55-meter hurdles not only won him the event but also helped him gain UAA Athlete of the Week honors. Sophomore Arthur Townsend took the 400-meter dash in 50.83 seconds, and the Bears took second and third in the 4×400 meter relay. Senior Justin Pieper tied for first in the high jump at 2.00 meters.

The Bears will be racing again in Bloomington this Saturday at the Illinois Wesleyan Triangular Meet, which begins at 11 a.m.

Men’s Basketball

After heading to Bloomington, Ill., to face Illinois Wesleyan University this upcoming Saturday, the Bears will be off until Dec. 30, when they will meet up and travel to Elmhurst, Ill., to take on Elmhurst College. They will come back to Wash. U. on Jan. 7 of the new year to take on conference rival University of Chicago in a match that begins University Athletic Association play for the Bears. Wash. U. will be on the road on the final weekend of break, traveling to Cleveland on Jan. 13 and Pittsburgh on Jan. 15 to face Case Western Reserve University and Carnegie Mellon University, respectively.

Women’s Basketball

The Bears will take on familiar rival Webster University on Saturday and will compete in Waverly, Iowa, on Dec. 29-30 in the Wartburg Holiday Tournament (hosted by Wartburg College), but their marquee matchup over break will be the one against Chicago on Jan. 7 at the Washington University Field House. Chicago, currently ranked No. 2 in the nation, got the best of the Bears in both regular season matchups—snapping a 40-game home win streak on Senior Day last year—before Wash. U. got revenge in the regional final round of the NCAA tournament. The game will be the biggest test of the season to date for the Bears, who will also close out their break with trips to CMU and Case Western.

Swimming and Diving

The swimming and diving teams will take their yearly winter break trip to Bradenton, Fla., for a team training and bonding session, before coming back to the Midwest in the week before the spring semester starts. Only the men’s team will go to Crawfordsville, Ind., to face Wabash College on Jan. 11, before both squads have their only home meet of the season. The Washington University Invitational will take place on Jan. 13-14 and will bring in teams from around the area and region.

Track and Field

With one meet already on the books, the track and field teams will be training on their own over break. They will head back to the site of their first meet—Bloomington, Ill.—on Jan. 14, where they will take part in the Illinois Wesleyan Double Dual Meet.

While official scoring did not take place at the meet, a number of Bears on both the men’s and women’s teams put up quality performances. The men’s side posted seven individual event winners while the women’s side posted five.

In addition to the 4-x-400 meter relay, which placed in first by 1.48 seconds, six different members of the men’s team won one event each. Among these performances was senior Tyler Jackson’s time of 7.73 seconds in the 55-meter hurdles, which met the provisional qualifying time.

“Posting a 7.73 in December is exciting, but it’s only the beginning. That will not stay at the top of the list for long. I have a lot I can and need to do in order to drop my time,” Jackson said.

Two other Bears put up winning times in a pair of track events. Junior Ryan Doll took the 200-meter dash in 23.21 seconds, while sophomore Arthur Townsend won the 300-meter dash with a mark of 36.48 seconds.

The men’s side also put up winners in three field events. Freshman Troy Makous excelled in his Wash. U. debut with a winning mark of 4.27 meters in the pole vault, junior Tom Arnold’s 12.97 meters in the shot put nudged out fellow Bears Ian Montague (12.76 meters) and Zach Lonneman (12.58 meters), and senior Justin Pieper took the high jump at 1.95 meters.

“The team was really excited for the early meet this year. It gave us a stronger sense of direction for our fall training and now we have a concrete point to compare our fall seasons with our return after break,” Jackson said. “I know I had been looking forward to the meet all year, and especially after Thanksgiving break. It was a very welcome change of pace.”

The women’s team’s five victories were highlighted by the efforts of sophomore Jasmine Williams, who won both the long jump and the high jump for the Bears. Her mark of 1.65 meters in the high jump was good for a provisional qualifying time, and her mark of 5.02 meters in the long jump won the event by .03 meters.

“I was hoping I would do well but in no way did I expect to clear the provisional height anytime soon,” Williams said. “I guess I was just feeling really springy and excited to be jumping competitively again.”

Sophomore Anna Etherington also met a provisional mark, as her 3.35 meters in the pole vault gave her the win. Sophomore Shannon Howell won the women’s 55-meter hurdles in 8.79, and junior Anne Diaz-Arrastia took the triple jump to round out the women’s winners.

Despite no team scores, both squads came out of the meet with a positive attitude and felt that it was a good way to get things started before meets begin on a more regular basis in January.

“Eventually most of us liked the fact that our first meet was before winter break because it gave us a chance to see that our fall training has paid off rather than having to come back after winter break, where we sometimes don’t train as hard, and [are] slightly disappointed with our first meet,” Williams said.

The track and field teams will compete again at Illinois Wesleyan in their next meet, the Illinois Wesleyan Double Dual Meet on Jan. 14.

WUSTL Photo

Washington University cross country coach Jeff Stiles was named the 2011 Division III Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year.

Stiles, who coaches both the men’s and women’s squads along with the track and field teams, just completed his 11th and most successful season as the cross-country coach at the University. He helped lead the women’s team to its first ever NCAA Division III national championship on Nov. 19, while also guiding the men’s team to a third-place finish.

The championship is the program’s first, while the third-place finish for the men’s team was also a school-best mark.

Both squads also won University Athletic Association titles this year—the women’s squad for the third straight year and eighth time under Stiles, the men’s squad for the second straight year and fourth time under Stiles.

Stiles began coaching cross-country at the University in 2001, two years after graduating from North Central College in Illinois. Al Carius, the head coach at North Central who was named 2011 Men’s Coach of the Year by the USTFCCCA, was Stiles’ coach in college.

Stiles and the track and field teams will begin the 2012 indoor season on Friday at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Ill., in the Titan “First Chance” Meet, at 4:00 p.m.

The No. 7 Bears got contributions from all across the board in their season debut: 10 different players put up at least two points in the team’s opening 65-60 victory over Fontbonne University on Tuesday at Fontbonne’s Dunham Student Activity Center.

Senior Dani Hoover led the way with a team-high and career-high 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting while also leading the team with eight rebounds.

“I’ll be happy if that keeps happening,” Hoover said of her game. “I think it was just part of our plays—trying to get open shots—and once we got in our rhythm, shots kind of kept coming.”

The team’s next-highest scorer was senior Brianne Monahan, who picked up 10 points. Monahan also had all five of the team’s blocks in the game. Senior Bethany Morrison helped pace the offense, tallying six assists and hitting a key shot with 25 seconds left that put the game out of Fontebonne’s reach.

These three, along with senior Claire Schaeperkoetter, enter the season as the team’s leaders and captains. According to Hoover, the group is adjusting fairly well to its new role.

“It’s always kind of a big change, moving up another year, and going from junior to senior year, you kind of have a new responsibility and new roles that you’re not really expecting,” she said. “Right now we’re trying to find our roles and figure out where we are.”

In addition to the team’s leaders and veterans, a pair of freshmen impressed in their debuts for the Red and Green. Melissa Gilkey and Maddy Scheppers picked up 10 and six points, respectively, and Scheppers helped the team’s defensive efforts with three of the Bears’ seven steals. Freshman Alexandra Keane also chipped in two points and a rebound in nine minutes of action.

The game saw flashes of all three freshman on the court together. According to head coach Nancy Fahey, the group performed well for its first regular-season action.

“I think they played very well tonight. They made mistakes, but some of my upperclassmen made mistakes. They’re basketball players,” Fahey said. “I think they’re absorbing the system pretty well. I have confidence in them all, and I think they stepped up pretty well tonight.”

The Bears—who outrebounded Fontbonne 37-32 and outshot them 43.6 percent to 42.1 percent—were forced to battle for the entire game and were unable to pull away until the final minute. Fahey credited Fontbonne for a strong performance.

“Fontbonne is a good team. They play very hard; they shot the ball well. You start playing as if you’re supposed to win, and I expect that, but that was good competition,” she said. “I think it was a great basketball game, and I was just really proud we were able to pull it out at the end.”

Nonetheless, it was a quality experience for a team looking to get into some in-game action.

“It’s always fun to play your first game. We’ve been playing hard in practice against each other for two or three weeks, so it’s nice to finally get out there and play and beat up on some other kids,” Hoover said.

For now, the Bears’ preseason goals of winning the University Athletic Association and returning to the national title game are on hold as they focus on the short term at this weekend’s tournament in Lake Forest, Ill. The team will square off against Northland College on Friday at 5:30 p.m.

Ben Gottesdiener | Student Life

Sophomore Meghan Byrne sets up for a hit against Carthage College.

On Sunday, a similar comeback ended Wash. U.’s season.

The Lady Reds stormed back, down 2-0, to win the final three sets of the match and take a 3-2 (20-25, 12-25, 25-23, 25-22, 15-11) victory over the Bears in the Washington University Field House, giving them the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship and ending the Bears’ season at 34-2.

“They started playing back when they could,” interim head coach Lisa Orlet said. “[We] just let them get too far ahead, and in a rally-score game, that’s tough to come back from.”

After cruising through 3-0 victories over Webster University (25-17, 25-9, 25-17) and the University of Chicago (25-17, 25-22, 25-16) on Friday and Saturday, respectively, the Bears were one win away from returning to the NCAA championship round next weekend. They were facing a Carthage squad that they had swept four times since the 2009 season, including once on Sept. 9 of this season.

The Bears and Lady Reds fought a back-and-forth first set, and the squads were tied 15-15 when the Bears jumped ahead with a 5-1 run that gave them a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish. The team’s ball control in the set was excellent, with 23 digs, led by eight from junior Kelly Pang and seven from junior Marilee Fisher, who also had 12 assists.

They then came out firing in the second set, using an early run of four straight points to take the lead for good in the set. The Bears hit .294 in the set, led by five kills from sophomore Meghan Byrne. Pang had 10 digs in the set, and with Carthage hitting minus-.013 to that point, things were looking good for the Bears.

“Our ball control was great,” Orlet said of the first two sets. “We were passing well, mixing up our offense. We were just firing on all cylinders.”

But Carthage jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the third set, and despite strong efforts from junior Drew Hargrave, senior Lauren Budde and Fisher that helped bring the score back to 23-23, a kill and an error gave Carthage the set.

The Bears jumped all over Carthage at the beginning of the fourth set, as they led 8-2 after more good play from Hargrave and Budde, and they were ahead 19-15 when Carthage went on another run. Five straight points gave the Lady Reds the lead, and after the Bears rallied with two straight points to lead 21-20, Carthage took five of the next six points to force a fifth set.

While the Bears had been in control up to that point, Orlet admitted that the team felt some pressure in the fourth set—compounded by the fact that the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country, Calvin and Emory, had already been eliminated.

“I think about halfway through that fourth game the girls started to get a little nervous,” she said. “We talked about when you’re ready to get what you want in life, you’re always going to face a little fear. You gotta keep fighting through it.”

Wash. U. moved ahead 3-1 early in the final set before a run of four straight points from Carthage gave them the decisive lead. The Bears moved within one point three times in the set but couldn’t close the gap. After a kill from Budde brought the Bears within two at 13-11, a kill from Carthage and an attack that went wide from Budde ended the set at 15-11 and the match at 3-2.

For the match, Budde’s 18 kills were a team-high, followed by Byrne’s 16 and Hargrave’s 12. Fisher had 58 assists and 14 digs, while Pang had 35 digs and senior Tricia Brandt had 15. Budde and sophomore Kaia Schwartz both were a part of three blocks. The team hit .206 in the match, compared to .126 for Carthage.

The Bears will graduate four seniors—Budde, Brandt, Brittany Mikottis and Kristen Thomas—who will end their Wash. U. careers with a record of 135-17, two UAA titles and a national championship in 2009.

“In all my years of coaching, it’s one of the classiest groups of women I’ve ever been around,” Orlet said of the seniors.

With everything the team has gone through during the year, including the illness of the wife of head coach Rich Luenemann that led Orlet to take over the main head coaching position for the final month of the season, Orlet was proud of the team for managing to keep things in perspective.

“With everything going on…volleyball’s just a game. That’s the big picture. We didn’t take the season as far as we wanted, and the life lesson here is when you get afraid, you fight back; you feel the fear, play hard anyway. There’s a lot more important things in life. Cherish every moment. Coach [Luenemann] has been telling them that ever since his wife got sick. They’re a classy group of women, and I still couldn’t be more proud of them.”

The Bears never really let the Gorloks get going in any of the match’s three sets, stifling early runs from Webster in the second and third set on their way to winning each set.

The majority of the Webster’s points in the first set were off of Wash. U. errors, as the Bears had nine errors in the set while the Gorloks only tallied five kills. 21 kills from the Bears in the set made the difference, set up by 18 assists from junior Marilee Fisher.

All of the Bears’ hitters came up big in the second set, as they cruised to a 25-9 set win on the strength of a team hitting percentage of .577 on the set with 17 kills and only two errors.

Wash. U. got out to a slow start in the third set as Webster went ahead 4-1 before the Bears brought it back and took a 5-4 lead. The teams were tied at 10-10 before a kill by senior Kristen Thomas put the Bears up for good. Webster got as close as 18-16, but following a timeout from Wash. U. the Bears took seven of the match’s final eight points to win the set 25-17 and the match 3-0.

Sophomores Kaia Schwartz and Meghan Byrne led the team with 11 kills each, set by Marilee Fisher’s 43 assists. Junior Kelly Pang had a team-high 14 of the team’s 54 digs. Senior Lauren Budde had an excellent all-around game, with 10 kills, 12 digs, 2 solo blocks and 3 block assists.

The Bears hit .304 in the match on 51 kills, had five aces and picked up seven blocks. Webster was held to a .032 hitting percentage as no member of the team hit more than four kills.

Wash. U. will have a familiar opponent in the second round as they will face off with conference rival and No. 15 University of Chicago in the Field House. The match will begin at 6 p.m.