Going up against four of the nation’s premier teams, the Washington University women’s volleyball team stood their ground.

The Bears made it through the WU/Asics National Invitational tournament at the Wash. U. Field House with a 3-1 record and a tie for first place in the tournament overall.
On Friday, the team began by defeating No. 10 Pacific Lutheran University in four sets (22-25, 25-22, 25-18, 25-12). The night game, viewed by some as the marquee matchup of the tournament, pitted the Bears against No. 4 Ohio Northern University, which ended the Bears’ NCAA tournament run last year. Unfortunately, the Bears could not exact revenge on this night, going down in three sets (25-29, 26-24, 25-23).

Despite the tough loss, the team came firing back on Saturday. The Lady Bears defeated No. 18 Concordia-Moorhead University in straight sets (25-19, 25-12, 25-13) and took out No. 17 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in the final match of the tournament, winning in four sets (24-26, 25-20, 25-21, 25-23). Coupled with University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s 3-2 defeat of Ohio Northern earlier in the day, the Bears grabbed a split of the tournament title.

“The loss was difficult for us, but I think for us that it’s important to take the losses and learn from them,” senior captain Erin Albers said. “It’s important that we can bounce back from a loss like that the way we did.”

Albers took charge in the first game, as her 16 kills led the team and helped them rally against Pacific Lutheran. After dropping the first set, the Bears only got stronger as the match continued. Each win widened the difference between the teams.

In the matchup against Ohio Northern, the Bears were their own undoing, giving up late leads in both the second and third sets. They registered 26 errors—a season high—which, for the team, was disconcerting but not discouraging.

“I sat here last night and watched the DVD from the game, and after looking and seeing the number of errors against Ohio Northern, I just laughed, because there are so many things that are going to be easy for us to clean up,” head coach Rich Luenemann said on Saturday.

Coming back out from the loss, the team came out strong on Saturday, needing little time to take out Concordia-Moorhead in the first match—and committing only eight errors in the process.

In the final game against Wisconsin-Whitewater, knowing a share of the tournament was on the line, the team again rebounded from a loss in the first set to take the next three, paced by sophomore Lauren Budde’s 21 kills.

The spark behind Saturday’s success came from the combination of Budde and freshman Marilee Fisher. Fisher, in at setter for the injured Vicki Blood, who played both games on Friday, had 83 assists in Saturday’s two games and is clearly beginning to establish some chemistry with the team’s hitters.

“It’s been going well,” Budde, who was named to the all-tournament team, said about her on-court relationship with Fisher. “I know I have to be with her for three more years, so I know how important the chemistry’s going to be.”

Working through youth and a rash of injuries, including to Blood and sophomore Erin Kasson, the Bears have persevered and still have much on the forefront—and they know it. Sophomore Kristen Thomas was also named to the all-tournament team, leading the Bears with 53 kills over the weekend.

“We have tons of potential on our team,” Albers said. “Already we’ve seen our team grow a lot to where we are now, and with so many young players I see how much farther we can go.”
The team’s potential can be seen this upcoming weekend in the Teri Clemens Invitational. The Bears face rival and No. 2 Juniata College at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, before taking on No. 6 University of La Verne and No. 7 University of St. Thomas on Saturday at the Wash. U. Field House.

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Tags: erin albers, erin kasson, Kristen Thomas, Lauren Budde, Marilee Fisher, Ohio Northern, Rich Luenemann, Women's Volleyball

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 13th, 2009 at 11:37 pm and is filed under Sports, Women's Volleyball. You can follow any responses to this entry through this feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.