Sophomore Lauren Budde returns a hit against Case Western Reserve at the UAA Round Robin this weekend. Budde had 11 digs in the match. ( Bradley Halpern | The Campus Times)

The Washington University women’s volleyball team successfully took early steps over the weekend toward defending its University Athletic Association championship.

The team ran through three matches in the season’s first UAA Round Robin in Rochester, N.Y., winning all three of its contests in straight sets.

On Saturday, the Bears took out Brandeis University (25-23, 25-11, 25-19). They followed up on Sunday with a sweep of the University of Rochester (25-15, 25-19, 25-21) in the morning and a victory over Case Western Reserve University (25-22, 25-20, 25-23) in the afternoon.

Despite the set of sweeps, the Bears were impressed with the levels of competition they faced.

“After this weekend, there’s no doubt in my mind that the UAA is the top volleyball conference in America,” head coach Rich Luenemann said. “There were some close games in there, and that’s not an accident. Teams that used to be easy to beat, we now struggle with.”

The team was aided by a break from practice until the Tuesday before last weekend’s matches. “We were well rested, focused and ready to go,” sophomore Lauren Budde said.

Against Brandeis, the match started out tight, as the Bears trailed for a good part of the first set. But after taking a 12-11 lead, the Bears never looked back, taking the first set and rolling through the next two for an easy victory. Sophomore Kristen Thomas’ performance highlighted the win, as she led the team with 13 kills.

The Bears began Sunday’s pair of games with another strong showing. Senior co-captain Erin Albers spearheaded the effort against Rochester with 13 kills and a .600 hitting percentage for the match. Freshman Marilee Fisher also tallied 42 assists.

The final contest of the weekend, against Case Western Reserve, was the toughest for the Bears, as both the first and third sets were tied late before the Bears were able to pull away. This one was an especially strong effort on the defensive end, as three players—Budde, freshman Kelly Pang and senior co-captain Laura Brazeal—finished the match with double digits in digs.

The Bears have won four straight matches and nine of their last 10, yet both the coaches and players are sure there are things to improve before the team really starts hitting its stride.

“We tend to sometimes focus on the areas that need improvement, and I see some areas where people can improve,” Luenemann said. “We evaluate how we play and always notice things we can do better. We have the highest expectations of ourselves.”

“I do feel like we’re a really good team, but there are some tiny little tidbits we can fix, and if we do that, we’ll be unbeatable,” Budde said.

The Bears will host the Wash. U. Invitational at the Field House this weekend. Wash. U. faces Elmhurst College at 5:15 p.m. on Friday and then Central College at 7:30 p.m., followed by University of Wisconsin-La Crosse at 11 a.m. on Saturday.