Washington University's volleyball team captured their tenth national championship title with a 3-1 win over No. 1 Juniata College. The Bears celebrate their win in University Heights, Ohio. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio — Time to put another banner up in the rafters. The Washington University women’s volleyball team is back on top.

On the grandest of all stages, the Bears shook off a slow start and defeated the Juniata College Eagles on Saturday (18-25, 26-24, 25-17, 25-21) to claim the NCAA Division III National Championship at the DeCarlo Varsity Center at John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio.

“This is easily one of the greatest success stories I’ve ever been a part of,” head coach Rich Luenemann said.

The championship was the team’s 10th—the most of any school in Division III—and its second in the last three seasons.

“It doesn’t feel real,” senior co-captain Erin Albers said. “This is the best we could have possibly done.”

Fresh off of a thrilling five-set victory the previous day against Hope College, in which the Bears rallied from being down two sets to one, the team had one more strong performance in them. They finished the season at 34-4, with some noteworthy contests and victories along the way to the championship.

“I honestly can’t believe that any of this is happening,” junior co-captain Marya Kaminski said. Kaminski had her best game of the season with 15 kills and a .588 attack percentage. “I feel like I’m in a dream.”

But this contest, like the team’s 3-0 sweep over Juniata on Sept. 18, was far from easy.

Almost immediately in the first set, after a bounty of errors in the opening points, the team found itself on the wrong end of a 9-2 deficit and without either of its timeouts. Trailing by as much as eight points, the Bears rallied their way back and brought the score to 15-13. But they never got closer than that, and a service error ended an ugly first set in which the team hit only .108 percent with seven errors.

“We didn’t have great focus out there,” Luenemann said about the set. “We weren’t executing.”

Then the Red and Green started executing. After trading the first few points, the Bears went on a 7-1 run to go up 12-5 in the second set. Despite a number of service errors, the Bears held the lead throughout most of the set and looked to be in good shape up 20-14.

Slowly, Juniata chipped away and fought off three set points to tie the set at 24. Facing a must-win situation to avoid dropping to a perilous 2-0 hole in the match, sophomore Lauren Budde put down a kill—her fourth of the set—to put the Bears back at set point, and an attack error by Juniata tied the match at one set apiece.

Revitalized, the Bears came out in the third set and put on a show. After another even start with the teams tied at 9, the Bears slowly started to inch away from the Eagles and then pulled away at the end, as a five-point run behind sophomore Tricia Brandt’s serves and a kill by sophomore Kristen Thomas put Wash. U. within one set of the title.

Thomas and Kaminski both had five kills in the set, while freshman Marilee Fisher put up 15 assists to help spark the Bears’ run.

The match’s final set started unlike any of the other three—with the Bears taking an early lead. A long rally on the seventh point of the set ended with a kill by Budde—her 12th at that point—and gave the Bears a 4-3 lead that they never surrendered. Juniata came back and brought the lead to within a point on two early occasions—at 10-9 and 11-10—but the Bears responded with an 8-2 run to go up 19-12.

Fighting for their season, Juniata brought the set back to 22-18, forcing Luenemann to take a timeout. Wash. U. inched forward and came within a point. And finally, after avoiding the first match point and bringing the set to 24-21, Juniata’s Kristin Noetzel put the ensuing serve into the net.

That’s when the celebration began.

After a lengthy team celebration and an acknowledgment of the outstanding season Juniata had as well, the Bears were awarded their plaques individually. Three Bears were named to the All-Tournament Team: Thomas, freshman Kelly Pang and Budde, who was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2009 NCAA Championship with 93 kills and 87 digs.

Despite losing two of the team’s opening-day starters to injuries over the course of the year and despite being a very young team, the Bears were unable to be stopped by most teams this season.

“Maybe we aren’t the most talented, maybe we don’t have the biggest hitters, but we came out with the most heart,” Albers said.

Albers, along with fellow senior co-captain Laura Brazeal, was a key part of the senior leadership that held together a team comprised of largely freshmen and sophomores. After losing the national championship match to Juniata as freshmen three years ago, they became imperative members of the teams that have won twice since then.

“The team really came together at the end of the season, and we started off with great team chemistry from the beginning,” Brazeal said, “and that’s what made the season amazing for me.”

“Perhaps the best captains I’ve ever had,” Luenemann said. “Whatever you ask of a captain, they did.”

They have set in place the pieces for more title runs in the next few years. The likes of Pang, Fisher, Budde, Kaminski and Brandt will remain key parts of the team for at least another year each.

But for now, they’re going to celebrate what they have accomplished: bringing the title back to Wash. U.

“It’s surreal. It’s amazing,” Pang said. “I’m so proud of us.”

In the Sixth Annual Teri Clemens Invitational at the Field House, the Bears won the tournament by taking down three nationally ranked teams—two of which entered the weekend in the top six.

(Paul Goedeke | Student Life)

The highlight of the weekend, an instant classic of a match that will be remembered for years to come, was the Bears’ upset of the No. 1 Juniata College Eagles in straight sets (28-26, 41-39, 27-25).

The win was the team’s first over Juniata since 2005.

“I’m in a little bit of disbelief,” junior captain Marya Kaminski said. “We came out, and we wanted to play them really bad. We wanted to win, and we executed. We did it.”

Senior captain Erin Albers had 15 kills for the Bears, while freshman Marilee Fisher had a stellar game, registering 44 of the team’s 57 assists.

“I can’t even explain it,” Fisher said after the game. “We’ve all just worked our butts off to do our best and do our jobs. It’s just so much fun.”

Although the Bears may have only needed three sets to knock off the Eagles, the match was hard fought on both sides, and each set went down to the wire. The first set was back and forth, as the Bears led for most of the set before the Eagles took a late lead. After tying the score at 20, the teams traded points until freshman Kelly Pang put it away with an ace.

What happened next will live on in University—and perhaps NCAA—volleyball annals forever.

By the time the second set was over, with the Bears taking it 41-39, the team had set a record across all NCAA divisions for most points scored in a three-set match with the 25-point scoring format. They had turned away 13 set-point chances for the Eagles. It was a true marathon set that was close from the outset, as neither team led by more than three points at any time.

The set went on for so long that the Bears ran out of substitutions—forcing 5-foot-2-inch sophomore defensive specialist Tricia Brandt up front attempting to block.

“That second set was incredible volleyball back and forth,” head coach Rich Luenemann, visibly out of breath, said after the game. “Two teams scoring point after point after point. And we made it. We weathered it.”

Exhausted but not finished, both teams followed up that set with another impressive showing in the third set. The Bears jumped out to a quick 6-1 lead and looked ready to coast to another victory and a sweep of the number one team in the country.

But with the way this match went, no one in the building was surprised when the Eagles rallied, bringing it to 23-23. The teams traded points twice more before Albers put away the final two points of the game, ending the set at 27-25 and the match at 3 sets to 0.

(Paul Goedeke | Student Life)

Chaos ensued as the fans came onto the court and the girls celebrated their huge victory.

“Incredible opponent, incredible match,” Luenemann said after the game.

One of the biggest facets of the Bears’ victory was their ball-control ability, out-controlling a team that prides itself on strong ball control—and Pang, with 27 digs, played a huge part.

“Everyone communicated well,” Pang said. “Everyone stepped up big and communicated with each other and knew who was doing what.”

After a contest like Friday’s, many teams would possibly just be too exhausted and might not have enough to come out for two more games the next day.

The Bears made quick work of No. 18 La Verne in the morning (25-14, 29-27, 25-20). Despite finally showing some vulnerability and dropping a set for the first time in the tournament, the Bears defeated No. 6 St. Thomas in the late game (22-25, 25-17, 17-25, 25-19, 19-17) in another excellent contest that was overshadowed by Friday night’s game.

Victors of the Teri Clemens Invitational, the Bears put three players—Pang, Fisher and sophomore Kristen Thomas—on the all-tournament team.

“It was just really exciting, especially in such close games, to know that we could push through in the end,” Thomas said.

With a young team in place already being able to take down the first-ranked team in the country, the threat that this team poses is immense—and they still have more to give.

“This was not our best game,” Kaminski admitted after the win on Friday night. “We still have a higher plateau to reach.”

Senior setter Vicki Blood dumps the ball over the net against Greenville College in the Field House on Tuesday night. The Red and Green went on to win the match in three games. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

The fifth-ranked Washington University women’s volleyball team demolished unranked Harris-Stowe State University and unranked Greenville College in a succession of two quick and impressive matches. The Bears beat Harris-Stowe (25-12, 25-9, 25-14), and after an hour-long break, they defeated Greenville (25-17, 25-20, 25-9) on Tuesday.

The three sets against Harris-Stowe each followed the same pattern. The Bears grabbed the lead early and slowly but surely increased it throughout the game.

“We came out pretty strong,” junior tri-captain Marya Kaminski said. “We played our game really well, we’ve been practicing all of pre-season, and I think we executed the plays that we practiced…up to par. Obviously there are things to improve, but yeah, I think we started the season off really well.”

Notably, sophomore Kristen Thomas made 16 kills during the three sets against Harris-Stowe, hitting a .520. Freshman Marilee Fisher came up with 11 set assists, and senior Laura Brazeal also brought her skills to court, making 12 digs.

“It took everyone for the win,” Thomas said. “I definitely wouldn’t have gotten that many kills if it wasn’t for the passes or our setter…I was really proud of everyone.”

The win was never in doubt, and the Bears walked away hitting a blistering .366.

Greenville College proved to be a tougher opponent.

The first two sets were relatively close, but the Red and Green pulled through, gaining confidence and shutting down Greenville in the final set.

Thomas once again led the Bears in kills, scoring 11 points during the match. Sophomore Erin Kasson followed close behind with eight kills. Kasson also aced six serves and made five digs, matching her career high.

“Erin Kasson was cranking on her jump serves, which proves to be disheartening for an opponent’s passing system,” head coach Rich Luenemann said.

Additionally, senior Vicki Blood had 26 assists; freshman Kelly Pang made 11 digs, and sophomore Lauren Budde walked away with 8 kills, 2 assists and 9 digs. The team total percentage was .284. Last season’s average team percentage was .277.

The next volleyball tournament is the Bears Classic, a home tournament this Friday and Saturday against Millikin University, Hope College and Augustana College.
“We can only get better,” Kaminski said. “We have plays that we didn’t even run during that game, because we didn’t need to…we have really good chances of being first this year.”