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Junior Marilee Fisher and senior Kristen Thomas compete in the Washington University Invitational this weekend. The Bears closed out the weekend with three victories, including a new capital Division III record for the most consecutive set victories against Lindenwood University.

The Bears began Saturday by winning their 58th straight set, breaking a Division III record established in 2007 by the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. They won their next five sets of the weekend as well, sweeping four matches to win the Washington University Invitational.

With these wins, the team now has the fifth-longest consecutive set streak in NCAA history across all divisions.

“It’s a great accomplishment for the team and it’s nice to have the record here at Wash. U. We’re just going to keep moving forward and keep trying to build on that record,” sophomore Kaia Schwartz said.

Wash. U. appeared eager to set the record, as it jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the first set against Division II Lindenwood University and never looked back. The team ended the set with a 25-13 victory.

“It was one of those matches when you put all phases of your games together. The kids came in very motivated,” head coach Rich Luenemann said.

The strong play continued for the Bears as they took the match 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-16). Senior Lauren Budde led the team in kills with 14, while Schwartz had 10 with no errors on 15 attempts for an impressive .667 hitting percentage. The team as a whole hit .388 in the match, its best mark for the weekend.

The Red and Green also received strong contributions from its defense, both up front and in the back row. The team totaled eight blocks, including two solo blocks from sophomore Meghan Byrne, and 47 digs, with junior Kelly Pang’s 18 leading the way.

In the weekend’s final match, against Culver-Stockton College, Wash. U. used a mixture of its typical starters and some of its backups to take the first two sets with ease. However, in the third set, the Bears received the toughest challenge yet to their historic streak.

The team trailed throughout the set and faced a 24-20 deficit, with Culver-Stockton one point away from ending the streak. Budde placed a kill to bring service back to the Bears, and sophomore Tanya Marvi helped serve the team to five straight points. An ace by Marvi tied the match at 24, and two more kills from Budde—who had eight of her 12 kills in the third set—ended the set and the 3-0 (25-12, 25-17, 26-24) match.

“We just never give up and think ‘Oh, OK, they can have this set, we’ll take the next one.’ No. This set is ours. Every set is ours,” Marvi said. “They can’t take anything from us. We just keep on fighting and I’m really proud of us.”

Budde and Byrne led the team with 12 kills each in the match. Sophomore Megan Odenthal and junior Marilee Fisher split the setting duties, with 19 and 14 assists, respectively. The Bears’ hitting percentage in the match was .352.

On Friday, the Bears began the weekend with 3-0 wins over Fontbonne University (25-7, 25-8, 25-19) and Millikin University (25-13, 25-22, 25-22). Their final set victory over Millikin tied the consecutive set record, putting the team in position to break the record on Saturday.

Budde (team-high 42 kills on the weekend), Fisher (77 assists), and Schwartz (24 kills, two solo blocks, six block assists) were each named to the All-Tournament team.

“I feel like, because my team was playing so well, it allowed me to get some great hits and play well. It’s all thanks to my team,” Schwartz said of the honor.

The Bears will get possibly their biggest test of the season next weekend in Rochester, N.Y., as they will face No. 3 Emory University and No. 16 University of Chicago in the second week of University Athletic Association Round Robin.

Emory handed the Bears their last two losses of the 2010 season, but they know that the entire weekend will be a challenge.

“We’re playing who we consider our four toughest UAA opponents this coming weekend. We’re going in there and we’re playing some really tough teams,” Luenemann said. “We can’t just focus on Emory, we’ve got to focus on one opponent at a time.”

Nathaniel Margolies | Student Life

Freshman Meghan Byrne serves the ball against Dominican University on October 29. Byrne tied the team lead in kills for the weekend with a total of 47.

After rolling over Carnegie Mellon University, 3-0 (25-12, 25-9, 25-13), Brandeis University, 3-0 (25-8, 25-10, 25-13) and New York University, 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-19), the Bears lost to the Eagles, 1-3 (22-25, 24-26, 25-22, 16-25) in the finals of the UAA Championships, which were hosted by Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Despite defeating Emory on Oct. 16, the Bears could not rise to the challenge again last weekend. Head coach Rich Luenemann cited blocking and serving as requisite areas of improvement.

“Our blocking game was poor, at best, and that put tremendous pressure on our backcourt defense,” Luenemann said. “Simply, our blockers need to rise to the challenge of executing that skill at a significantly higher level for us to enjoy success in postseason play. Our serving game was average, and that phase of the game is usually a strength.”

Freshman Meghan Byrne totaled 20 kills over the four sets, complemented by sophomore Marilee Fisher’s 54 assists and sophomore Kelly Pang’s 17 digs. Junior Lauren Budde also compiled 12 kills and 11 digs in the match. Nevertheless, these performances were not enough to overcome the team’s struggles.

“I think our communication, in general, needs to be better when we’re out on the court,” Budde said. “So that’s going to be a major focus this week in practice.”

The championship match marked the seventh straight year in which the Bears have faced Emory in the UAA championship match. The Bears lost last year’s faceoff 0-3.

Prior to Saturday’s match, however, the Bears disposed of three conference opponents, which gave the team some confidence heading into the postseason.

“We really had a great flow and good team chemistry,” said Budde, who tallied 35 kills over those three matches. “We kind of just got into the mindset that it’s [the] postseason, every game matters, and we need to go 110 percent every game.”

“We played with confidence; we were all playing well, and we were gelling,” said Pang, who led the team with 34 digs over the three matches.

Luenemann also recorded his 1,000th career victory in the win over Brandeis on Friday. Despite being only the fifth NCAA coach and one of two Division III coaches to reach this milestone, Luenemann responded modestly and was much more focused on preparing the team for the NCAA Division III championship next week.

“1,000 is a number, and that’s about all,” Luenemann said. “The wins are the direct result of the quality of athletes I’ve been blessed to coach and the assistant coaches who’ve given so much of themselves towards the success of the program.”

The NCAA Division III championship draw will be announced today at 11 a.m. At that time, the Bears, who are No. 1 in the NCAA Central Region, will receive a bid and learn who their next opponent will be.

As for a possible rematch against Emory during the playoffs, Pang offered some words of confidence.

“Unfortunately, we just suffered a loss, but we are fortunate enough to get another chance at it and to rebound, regroup and use the best strategy in the same way that [Emory] did against us,” Pang said.

The top-ranked Bears hosted their first invitational of the season this past weekend, emerging victorious from the Washington University Classic with a pair of victories on Saturday and another pair on Sunday.

On Saturday, the Red and Green first made quick work of Fontbonne University with a 3-0 trouncing (25-7, 25-16, 25-15) and followed it up with a 3-1 victory (23-25, 25-16, 25-19, 25-19) over University of Wisconsin-Platteville in the evening. The team then came back out on Sunday and grabbed two more wins with 3-1 victories over Simpson College (25-18, 26-28, 25-15, 25-15) and DePauw University (25-9, 25-16, 24-26, 25-13).

“It was a really good first tournament for us,” sophomore Kelly Pang said. “There were some ups and downs, but it was a really good starting point and we learned a lot from this tournament and we’re just excited to get better.”

The Bears quickly overwhelmed Fontbonne, as they took the first set 25-7 and never looked back. All 18 players on the roster made their way into the match at some point, and juniors Lauren Budde and Kristen Thomas led the way with seven and six kills, respectively. Freshman Tanya Marvi picked up six service aces.

UW-Platteville initially presented more of a challenge, as the Bears dropped the initial set for the first time this season before rebounding to take the next three. Sophomore Drew Hargrave had 17 kills, while Budde followed with 16 kills along with three and a half blocks. Freshman Kaia Schwartz hit well, with 9 kills and a .500 hitting percentage for the match.

Against Simpson on Sunday, the Bears broke a 1-1 tie with decisive 25-15 victories in the third and fourth sets. Everyone got in on the action, as five players—Budde, Thomas, Hargrave, senior captain Marya Kaminski and freshman Meghan Byrne—picked up at least six kills while Pang, Budde and Marvi each tallied at least 13 digs.

Wash. U. jumped DePauw right out of the gate in Sunday’s final match, taking the first set 25-9 and winning the second as well. After DePauw managed to steal the third set, the Bears made quick work of the final set to take the match. Budde and Hargrave were again the leaders, with 17 and 14 kills, while sophomore Marilee Fisher picked up 51 assists.

For the weekend, Budde paced the team with 56 kills and 7.5 blocks, while Fisher racked up 161 assists and Pang collected 86 digs. Budde, Pang and Fisher were named to the all-tournament team.

Hargrave also tallied 43 kills in the four contests. Not to go unnoticed, however, was the Class of 2014; Byrne, Schwartz, Marvi and Tessa Blood picked up playing time in all four matches.

“Our first big college tournament; it’s kind of intimidating, just…the magnitude of it, but I think we got over that pretty quickly and we all played up to par,” said Byrne, who picked up 36 kills in the tournament.

The Bears will be in action again next weekend, with top-ranked teams coming in for the WU/Asics National Invitational. The team will face No. 7 Carthage College and No. 19 Saint Olaf College on Friday and will go up against No. 10 Ohio Northern University—who swept Wash. U. last season—and No. 11 Wittenberg University on Saturday.

“Not only are they good teams, they’re very motivated to play us. Sometimes that ranking, No. 1, is a bullseye, but we don’t mind it. If we are No. 1, let’s prove that we’re No. 1,” head coach Rich Luenemann said. “This weekend is going to be a bunch of shootouts, and there’s not going to be one easy match at all.”

The tournament will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Friday in the Wash. U. Field House.

The volleyball team lifts their 2009 NCAA Division III national championship trophy as they celebrate their 3-1 victory over top-ranked Juniata College. The Bears will unveil their championship banner in the Field House at 3 p.m. Sunday. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

The festivities kick off after the basketball doubleheader against Emory University concludes. At 3 p.m., the 2009 volleyball team will be presented with its championship rings and have its national championship banner unveiled. The banner will join nine other volleyball championship banners. Attractions for fans include national championship posters for all in attendance and T-shirts for a limited number of students and faculty with an ID card.

The Bears captured their NCAA-record 10th national championship with a 3-1 victory over No. 1 Juniata College on Nov. 21, 2009. Sophomore Lauren Budde was named Most Outstanding Player of the 2009 championship with 15 kills and five blocks in the game. Sophomore Kristen Thomas and freshman Kelly Pang were also tapped for the all-tournament team. The American Volleyball Coaches Association also chose Pang as its Division III National Freshman of the Year.

The 2009 title marked head coach Rich Luenemann’s third victory in the national championship game. Luenemann was also named AVCA’s Division III Coach of the Year.

“It feels good to know that the banner is going to hang there forever,” said senior Erin Albers, co-captain of the volleyball team. “[People should] show their support, not just for our team, but for the soccer team because they’re deserving.”

The University will also honor the 2009 national runner-up women’s soccer team. The Bears’ appearance in the title game was the first in program history. Wash. U. fell to top-ranked and undefeated defending champion Messiah College 1-0 on Dec. 5, 2009, in San Antonio.

Senior captain Libby Held and fellow senior Caryn Rosoff both earned National Collegiate Soccer Coaches Association of America All-America honors, with Rosoff being named to the first team and Held earning a spot on the second team.

Their squad tied a Wash. U. record with 17 wins en route to their fourth straight UAA championship and national championship game appearance.

“It’s a testament to the students the university attracts, but also to the students that it develops during their time here,” co-captain of the women’s soccer team senior Becca Heymann said.

With additional reporting by Johann Qua Hiansen

Head Coach Rich Luenemann speaks to the volleyball team at the 2009 NCAA Division III National Championship against Juniata College on Nov. 27. Luenemann received AVCA Coach of the Year honors for the third time in his career as the Bears captured their 10th national title. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

Fresh off of his third national championship at Washington University, women’s volleyball head coach Rich Luenemann was named American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) National Coach of the Year on Nov. 24. Luenemann won the award twice before, after the 2003 and 2007 national titles. Luenemann recently sat down with Student Life to talk about this incredible season, how it felt to coach this team, and the future of Wash. U. women’s volleyball.

Student Life: Right after the championship, it sounded a lot like what you all had just accomplished hadn’t really hit any of you yet. I take it that it’s kind of set in since then?

Rich Luenemann: The championship match ended on a rather odd note. When the ball was served into the net, it was kind of anticlimactic, and everyone was like, “is that it?” I really appreciate how the University community has welcomed the team back and has gone out of their way to talk to the players about how well they did. And I know they’re so proud.

SL: You’ve been here for a while. Wash. U. has a strong team year in and year out, and even then, chances are you’re not going to win the national title every year. Having coached national championship teams before, when did you know that this team was special in the sense that you knew that they could go all the way?

RL: Oddly enough, you used that word “special,” because at our preseason cookout in late August, I made the comment that I have a very special feeling about this team. And again, the feeling began with the leadership that the captains were showing. I do believe that it’s very possible that the three captains we had this year were the best combination of captains I’ve had in all the years that I’ve coached. And then from there, we looked at the chemistry the team enjoyed; everyone was on the same page, everyone had the same agenda whether they were a starter or a reserve. It was all for one and one for all, and that led us throughout the season quite well. We encountered those injuries, we had so many challenges throughout the season, so many challenges, and each challenge the team met, they overcame.

SL: Is there anything that differentiates this team from the teams you had in 2003 and 2007, which also brought home the trophy?

RL: Well, I would look for commonalities rather than differences. They’ve all had team chemistry. I think that this year’s team enjoyed that same chemistry as that 2007 team did and that 2003 team did and even other teams that didn’t win it. Because we weren’t the most talented team at the final eight (of the NCAA tournament). But we had the greatest resolve, the greatest motivation, the most intense focus and the best leadership from our captains. So when you take all of those factors into consideration, good talent and exceptional leadership, exceptional focus, exceptional assimilation of the concepts…it was a recipe for success.

SL: You won AVCA National Coach of the Year for the third time. What does an award like that mean to you, in terms of your own personal achievement and for your team?

RL: There are many, many coaches who are very deserving of the award, and there are many coaches who are probably more deserving than myself. Unfortunately, sometimes the committee gives it to the coach of the team that wins. What was gratifying this year, for myself, was that again, we weren’t the most athletically talented team at the final eight. We might have been the fourth or fifth most athletically talented team. But for a team to face that challenge and excel, that was just such a great feeling.

SL: You talked a lot during the year about how young your team was. How helpful is that for you in terms of setting up next year?

RL: It’s really great knowing we have such a young nucleus, but at the same time it’s incumbent for me to continue to work hard to improve the team. So we’re looking to add anywhere from six to eight new players for next year. The one thing we didn’t have this year at the end of the season, due to injuries, was depth. So we are going to bring in a number of players. We’re not going to stand pat and say, “Hey, we just won the national championship, we’re a young team, let’s do this again.” We realize we’re going to do anything we need to do to make the team stronger.

SL: Coming out of a national championship season, how do you try to handle expectations going into next season? When the team comes into camp in August, do you tell them to take things slowly or do you come out and say to them, “Hey, let’s go repeat again”?

RL: I hope that each one of them hopes that—no, expects that—we win a national championship. I hope that each player there has in her mind that she wants to be an All-American. Because if you don’t strive for the greatest goals you can possibly reach, then how can you envision doing that? So we’ll begin each year with the same expectation, and that’ll be to win the national championship. And once we establish that as our goal, we have to go through the process to make it.

SL: One thing you want people to remember about this team—what will it be?

RL: We entered with great expectations, met incredible challenges along the way, and through the great leadership we had, the great focus and the intense motivation that we had, won the national championship.

Freshman Kelly Pang bumps the ball against the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater on Sept. 12. Pang was named to the Teri Clemens Invitational All-Tournament Team with 65 digs. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

Although the University Athletic Association conference competition is slated to begin next weekend, the Washington University women’s volleyball team is surely glad to have the toughest stretch of its schedule behind them.

The No. 4 Bears split a mid-week pair of games against St. Louis-area teams, dropping a contest against Division II University of Missouri-St. Louis on Tuesday (25-13, 21-25, 25-18, 25-23) and coming back the next day to take down Fontbonne University in straight sets (25-14, 25-15, 29-27).

The loss to UMSL was the team’s first loss since a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Ohio Northern University on Sept. 11. The Bears fought back after losing the first set and tied it at one apiece, but UMSL proved to be too much, taking the last two.

Despite the loss, the game wasn’t without its positives for the ladies. Freshman Kelly Pang registered a season-high 33 digs, and sophomore Lauren Budde had a strong game both offensively and defensively, racking up 12 kills and 13 digs.

Fontbonne provided much less of a challenge for the Bears, who began cycling in many of the team’s backups after the first set. Freshman Meg Buker led the team with 28 assists and helped the team rally after being down in the third set.

“It shows a lot that even though we had a lot of non-starters in, we still continued through and were able to pull through in the end,” senior co-captain Laura Brazeal said. “We’re still able to continue the determination that we have.”

Yet the biggest victory of the week for the Bears may have come not on the court, but in the schedule.

The game against UMSL marked the end of an incredibly difficult out-of-conference stretch of games for the Bears: in a 12-day span between Friday, Sept. 11, and this past Tuesday. In the stretch, the Bears played seven nationally-ranked Division III schools and one Division II school and made it through with a 6-2 mark.

The team does not play another nationally-ranked squad until it faces No. 3 Emory University on Oct. 17. The Bears are celebrating by taking a well-earned break.

“After those two tournaments and UMSL, we are physically beaten up. We’re taking five days off of practice,” head coach Rich Luenemann said after Wednesday’s game. “That’s almost unheard of in collegiate athletics, but our players need the rest, both physically and mentally.”

While it is an unusual practice to leave players off the court for that long, the ladies have no question that they can keep up their high levels of play after this break—and they’re welcoming it with open arms.

“A lot of us are under the weather, so it’s really important that we rest,” sophomore Tricia Brandt said. “But we know it’s very important to keep the intensity going.”

If anyone thinks there’s a chance the team could come out of that break without any of the intensity that it has had all season, Luenemann had the following message after Wednesday’s game: “We’re coming back to practice next Tuesday, guns a-blazin’. Look out, folks.”

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.”

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.

Marya Kaminski (left) and Lauren Budde go up for the block against University of Wisconsin-Whitewater on Saturday, Sept. 12. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

“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.

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.”

The Bears swept the weekend, defeating the Lawrence University Vikings, Simpson College Storm and Cardinal Stritch University Wolves in straight sets. The 19th-ranked University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Blugolds put up a fight but the second-ranked Red and Green prevailed with a 3-1 win.

One of the biggest changes this season was the conversion from 30 point to 25 point sets. The new scoring system had mixed reactions from players and coaches as they adjust to a more rapid style of play.

“It’s imperative that you start quickly,” Head Coach Rich Luenemann said.

The Bears demolished Lawrence (25-10, 25-12, 25-16) with strong serving and attacking in the first two sets. The team had nine service aces, with four from freshman Erin Kasson and three from freshman Tricia Brandt. Brandt’s aces came at a critical time, as the Bears put together a nine-point run to overcome a 15-14 deficit in the third set. Numerous Bear errors resulting in a .071 attack percentage caused the close set.

“It was not the cleanest we could have played,” senior co-captain Ali Crouch said.

Wash. U. continued its rampage on Friday night with a 25-15, 25-20, 25-20 win against the Simpson Storm. Senior Nikki Morrison led the assault with a .588 hitting percentage with junior Erin Albers close behind.

Saturday proved to be a bigger challenge, as neither the Wolves nor the Blugolds refused to roll over. The Bears started off slowly against the Wolves. Down 7-2, the Bears went on to win 25-16 in the first set, aided by strong attacks from Albers and Morrison. Despite 12 attack errors in the second set, the Red and Green edged out Cardinal Stritch 25-23 before mauling the Wolves 25-15 in the third set off a team .522 hitting percentage.

Wash. U. came out strong in the first set overwhelming UW-Eau Claire with rapid spikes and some key dumps.

“Wash. U. has a balanced offense with hitters from every position,” UW-Eau Claire Head Coach Kim Wudi said. “We were just trying to take advantage of their errors.”

The Blugolds stormed back in the second set, building an 11-4 lead. Wash. U. came as close as 22-21 before the Blugolds secured three straight points to win the set.

“It’s good for us to realize we’re not invincible,” Morrison said.

The Bears bounced back off good blocking by Albers and Kasson to win the last two sets. Albers, who led the team with 37 kills, had a solo and four assists while Kasson recorded a solo and three block assists.

Morrison and senior Audra Janak were both named to the All Tournament Team off of Janak’s 89 assists and Morrison’s .508 tournament hitting percentage. Janak also had 28 digs and a momentum shifting solo block against the Blugolds.

“The team is happy we won four matches but at the same time realizes they can improve so much,” Luenemann said. “We just need to flow more often.”

Wash. U. hosts No. 11 Ohio Northern University, No. 22 Central College, No. 24 California Lutheran University and Bethel University this weekend. The Bears begin the WU/ASICS National Invitational against Central at 5:30 p.m. in the Field House on Friday.