Women’s soccer
(13-2-1, 5-0-1 UAA)

Best case: UAA champion if Wash. U. beats Chicago, Case defeats Rochester

Worst case: UAA Runner-up if Wash. U. loses to Chicago, Rochester defeats Case

The No. 8 women’s soccer team holds a one-point lead over the University of Rochester and defeated the Yellowjackets 2-1 in overtime on Oct. 18.

If Rochester beats Case Western Reserve University at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night and the Bears do not defeat Chicago, the Yellowjackets will win the conference. The Bears must beat Chicago for the outright title as Rochester defeated Emory. Emory tied with Wash. U. on Oct. 17. Two ties are worse than a loss, according to senior co-captain Becca Heymann.

Volleyball
(25-3, 7-0 UAA)

Best case: UAA champion if Bears advance to championship match and win

Worst case: Place in the top four of UAA teams if they fail to make the championship match

The No. 3 Wash. U. volleyball team defeated every UAA team in round robin play, earning the top seed in this weekend’s UAA championships. No. 4 Emory University is the top seed in the other pool. The Bears swept Emory (25-19, 25-17, 25-18) on Oct. 17. Wash. U. takes on NYU, Rochester and Case in pool A. The champions of both pools play for the UAA championship.

The Bears also are the top-ranked team in the region and have a good chance of hosting at least one round of the NCAA tournament.

Men’s soccer
(9-6-3, 3-3 UAA)

Best case: If all teams lose above Wash. U. lose and the Bears win, Wash. U. will still be in fourth

Worst case: If Emory beats Carnegie Mellon and Wash. U. falls to Chicago, the Bears will be in fifth place in the UAA standings

The Bears are currently in fourth place in the UAA rankings and face Chicago (4-1-1 UAA). With losses to Carnegie Mellon and Rochester, which lead the conference with a 5-1 record, the Bears have no chance of winning UAAs. Carnegie Mellon plays Emory, while Rochester is up against Case Western Reserve.

In terms of gaining an NCAA bid, beating Chicago, the fourth-ranked team in the Central Region, would give the Bears a quality win in their favor.

The postseason fate of both soccer teams and volleyball will be announced on Nov. 9.

The No. 16 women’s team (14-4, 6-1 UAA) will rematch No. 15 NYU (16-2, 5-2 UAA) tonight at 6 p.m., five days after the Bears defeated the then-No. 8 ranked Violets 63-53. Sophomore Kathryn Berger posted a team-high 11 points in the victory, the 10th win for the Bears in their past 11 games.

During halftime of the women’s game, the 2008 Washington University Sports Hall of Fame class will be recognized. Ten of the newest inductees are former student-athletes, including Tasha Rodgers, a member of all four women’s basketball NCAA National Championship teams from 1998-2001, and Kevin Folkl, the men’s basketball team’s ninth all-time leading scorer and career leader in field goal percentage.

Also being inducted are two Distinguished Service Honorees, Hord Hardin (’35) and W. Edward Lansche (’48), bringing the total in the Hall of Fame to 132.

The men’s basketball team, ranked No. 2 in Division III nationally (17-1, 7-0 UAA), will then play NYU (13-5, 2-5 UAA) at 8 p.m. Junior guard Aaron Thompson will look to continue his hot streak, having scored 29 points in Sunday’s 67-56 win. Thompson is averaging 18.6 points per game for the season and has led the Bears in scoring the past five games.

The St. Louis Rams cheerleaders will perform during halftime of the men’s game and will be signing autographs after the game.

“[The Rams cheerleaders] actually contacted us and wanted to come perform at Wash. U., and they’re actually tied in with somebody who is affiliated with [the University],” said Trevor MacDonald, director of marketing and external relations for Washington University Athletics.

Tonight is also Eliot Night, where many of the contributors to University and athletic funding are invited to attend both games and a dinner beforehand.

Trying to remain perfect in UAA conference play, the men will play Brandeis University on Sunday at noon. Brandeis (12-6, 5-2 UAA) is the No. 2 team in the UAA and will be looking for revenge after a close 80-75 loss on Friday, Jan. 30 in which the Judges gave up the most points they had all season.

Despite having four players score in double figures, the Judges were bested by Wash. U.’s balanced offense and Thompson’s 18 points.

“Rematch games are always a little bit harder, especially offensively, because the other team gets to make defense adjustments. But if you flip that around, we get to make defensive adjustments also,” junior forward Cameron Smith said. “Every game in the UAA is going to be a dogfight, and Brandeis is one of the better teams [in the conference] this year, and we know they’re going to come to play on Sunday.”

Sunday, Feb. 8 is the second annual Youth Day, featuring free autographs from all of the basketball players, face painting, J.J. Jumper (the NCAA mascot), giveaways and much more youth-centered programming.

“We’ve done a lot of clinics throughout the year where kids keep coming back because they need a Sean Wallis or a Tyler Nading, and they want to come back and see them play and say hello to them. I think it’s nice to see the kids come out and get to see their idols play, and meet them and get their autographs,” MacDonald said.

At 2 p.m., the women take the court in another tough battle against No. 24 Brandeis (13-4, 3-4 UAA). Last weekend, the Bears defeated Brandeis 61-55 in a come-from-behind victory.

This weekend’s women’s games are of added importance given how close the UAA standings currently are. Wash. U. and No. 3 Rochester are tied atop the conference at 6-1 while NYU is only one game behind at 5-2. Rochester will face Emory and Case Western Reserve University this weekend, both of whom are 2-5 in conference play while Brandeis and NYU will also face the University of Chicago (13-5, 4-3 UAA) this weekend.

This year, Wash. U. will look to build on a win after the No. 4 Bears took out the No. 1 Eagles 3-2 in the UAA championship match on Saturday. “It’s just the beginning,” senior Alli Alberts said.

The Red and Green fought a seesaw battle with the Eagles the entire match, taking the first and third sets 25-18 and 25-13, respectively. “We all just wanted it,” freshman Kristen Thomas said. “It feels great and gives us a lot of confidence.”

Senior Nikki Morrison led the team with 14 kills, Thomas had 12 and junior Erin Albers had 11 kills. Emory fought through 15 kills in the second set to take the frame 26-24 and won the fourth set 25-19.

“The key to our win was our backcourt play, our digging and passing,” Head Coach Rich Luenemann said. “Audra [Janak] did a great job directing the offense.” Junior Laura Brazeal, Alberts and freshman Tricia Brandt had 24, 20 and 14 digs, respectively, which gave the Bears opportunities throughout the match.

The Bears fought back from a four-point deficit in the final frame, culminating with a block by freshman Erin Kasson and Alberts to tie the score at seven. Emory ex-tended its lead to 11-8 before the Bears caught up.

The turning point occurred when Janak punched the ball off an Emory blocker to tie the score at 11. After two Emory attack errors, an Emory kill and a solo block by Alberts, the stage was set for the final point. Albers took a set from Janak and spiked the champion-ship-winning point down the middle for a 15-12 victory. “It doesn’t matter who scores it,” Albers said. “It’s awesome.”

The UAA title was the 19th in program history and the third in five years.

Path to Championship Match

The Bears swept New York University and Case Western Reserve University on Friday. Wash. U. put together strings of points for 25-16 and 25-18 victories in the first two sets against NYU. The Violets appeared rattled in the third set with numerous errors, as the Bears picked up the 25-18 win using only seven kills.

Morrison, with her 11 kills, led the Bears against Case in a 25-18, 25-10, 25-10 sweep. Wash. U. had 18 kills in the first set alone. Albers led the Bears through the first frame and Thomas led the team in the second with five kills each.

The Bears stumbled against Carnegie Mellon University on Saturday morning, dropping the initial frame 25-27 after establishing a 21-15 lead. They came out of the break fired up, and Morrison scored the last four points, grabbing the second set with a solo block. Wash. U.’s momentum continued to flow, as the Bears shot to 11-4 in the third set with senior Ali Crouch’s three kills. The lead was extended to 21-5 after back-to-back aces by Janak. A block by Alberts and Albers brought the Bears to a 24-10 advantage. Albers scored the last point with a right side spike. The final set was more of the same, as Albers sealed the 25-14 win. “We finally started to click,” Alberts said. “I can’t wait to play again.”

With the UAA title, the Bears clinched an automatic berth to the NCAA Championship Tournament. Wash. U. finds out where their regional will be held on Monday. The winner of each regional will move on to Bloomington, Ill. where the national championship tournament will be held.

The Bears are not resting on their laurels and will be hard at work. “The celebration is over,” Alberts said. “We have regionals.”

The momentum from its victory that night carried into the weekend as No. 4 Wash. U. demolished Case Western Reserve University, the University of Rochester and Carnegie Mellon University.

“We just needed a confidence boost,” senior Alli Alberts said. “We weren’t all over the place. We were all just playing much better together.”

Wash. U. is now on a five-match winning streak after dropping two games last weekend.

The Bears were not happy about playing during the vice presidential debate, especially since they were unable to practice on their home court during the week leading to the debate.

“We really wanted to get it done and get home,” senior Ali Crouch said.

According to Crouch, the Red and Green were able to watch the latter half of the debate.

Alberts led the sweep of Webster (25-18, 25-15, 25-16) with a career-tying high of 16 kills on a .393 performance. Freshman Lauren Budde was successful in 14 of 31 set attempts in her first collegiate start as setter.

Wash. U. started off strong against Rochester, taking the first two sets 25-9 and 25-8. Kasson and Morrison continued their fiery streak turning in .875 and .889 kill success rates.

The Red and Green sputtered in the third as new players and plays were added to the mix.

“Their energy just switched on,” Crouch said. “It was more our mistakes. Volleyball is a very energy-based sport.”

Freshman Brittany Mikottis tied the score at 24, but the Bears could not convert falling 27-25. Wash. U. got back on track with 14 kills on 26 attempts to clinch the match with a 25-7 fourth set win.

Sunday’s games were more competitive.

“Our strengths are team chemistry and execution,” Mikottis said.

The Bears shut down Carnegie Mellon with a 25-15, 25-12, 25-12 sweep. Wash. U. registered 10 blocks in the match.

Case Western put up a fight, bringing the first set to 19-18, but Wash. U. unleashed a string of four straight points to take the game. Junior Erin Albers notched five of the 13 kills in the first set.

The Red and Green were propelled to a 25-15 win in the second set due to the efforts of Crouch and Alberts. Crouch tallied a career-high 12 kills in the match. Alberts led the team, recording 50 kills with a .384 performance while senior Audra Janak had 125 sets in the last four matches. Freshman Tricia Brandt rattled off four service aces in an 8-0 run as Wash. U. captured the final set 25-17.

“It’s always good to go out and have a good showing,” senior Nikki Morrison said. “It’s nice to get our team straight back to where it can.”

Wash. U. returns to the Field House this Friday with matches against Endicott College and Williams College at 5:15 p.m. before facing No. 20 Christopher Newport University at 10 a.m. and Illinois Wesleyan University at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.

“I can’t wait to see the fans come back out and have some Wash. U. pride,” sophomore Marya Kaminski said.