Josh Goldman | Student Life

Senior Matt Skinner singles through the box in game two of a doubleheader against Illinois College on Tuesday. Skinner went 6-7 over the two games and had 5 RBIs.

The Bears are now 13-11 on the season after sweeping a doubleheader against the University of Wisconsin-Platteville Thursday at Kelly Field. Wash. U. shut out the Pioneers 12-0 in the first game and took the second contest 5-3.

The team hopes to ride its hot streak into Sunday’s home doubleheader against No. 23 Carthage College. The team had been scheduled to play four games against the Red Men, and head coach Steve Duncan stressed that the team needed to win these games to keep its NCAA tournament hopes alive.

“We need to win three out of four of those, but I’m not all that concerned about how we play against good teams; we play extremely well against good teams,” Duncan said on Wednesday. “What we’re going to need to make a playoff run is more consistency against the other teams that we play the rest of the schedule. We can’t have letdowns.”

The Bears split their six games at the University Athletic Association Championships in Sanford, Fla., but came within a pitch of sharing the UAA Championship with Emory University and Case Western Reserve University.

Ahead 8-7 against Emory on March 14, senior H.T. Flanagan surrendered a walk-off homerun to senior Patrick Riebsame to give the Eagles (15-9, 5-1 UAA) the outright championship.

With the homer, Emory capped its comeback from the 7-0 deficit it faced heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.

“Without a doubt, we had [the championship] right there in our grasp. We had the taste of victory, and it just kind of slipped through our hands,” sophomore pitcher Stephen Bonser said. “Stuff goes wrong, we get a little bit of bad luck and it…slipped away from us.”

Back on campus, the Bears picked up double-header splits with Dominican University, Illinois College and defending NCAA Champion No. 11 Illinois Wesleyan University, as well as two wins over the Milwaukee School of Engineering.

The team earned its biggest win of the season so far, a 5-3 upset of Illinois Wesleyan last Saturday. The Bears scored three runs in the first inning and two in the seventh, and the team withstood a late-inning rally from the Titans to pick up the victory.

Though the Red and Green have fared well against some of the best teams in the country, their biggest disappointments have come in losses to teams that they should have been able to beat. Tuesday’s split with Illinois College was one of these disappointments.

“When we play a team that we know is going to be a really good team and a tough matchup that day, it’s just a whole different [level of] energy when we come to the game than when we play a team that we expect to beat pretty handily,” said senior Matt Skinner, the team’s starting first baseman. “We need to stop looking at what jersey we’re playing or what school we’re playing and just get pumped to play every single game and bring it to every team no matter who it is.”

Wash. U. was poised to sweep the Blue Boys of Illinois College behind Skinner’s monster day at the plate. The senior went six for seven with three doubles, a homerun and five RBIs over the two games; his two-run homerun in the sixth inning of the second game gave the Bears a 4-2 advantage. But Illinois College immediately took the lead on a three-RBI homer in the next inning and held on for the split.

“[Skinner’s performance] was something else,” Duncan said. “It was fun to watch him; he was dialed in, and every swing he put on the ball was squared up. He didn’t get any cheap hits. Not at all. His homerun…was one of the biggest hits of the year. It’s just unfortunate it wasn’t good enough to get us the win, but he was clutch.”

The Bears continue play Sunday, with a doubleheader at home against Carthage. The first game is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.

“We’ve beaten some really good teams, and we’ve played well against tough teams,” Skinner said. “I don’t think we’re happy and satisfied with our record right now, but I honestly think we’re in a good position. If we keep winning games, we’ve beaten good enough teams that we still control our own destiny in regards to getting a [postseason] bid.”

In a battle of top-10 teams, the No. 9 Bears fell to No. 8 Unversity of Chicago in the regular season finale for both programs. The Maroons finished the season undefeated in the University Athletic Association to win the conference title.

The Bears were stifled by the Maroons on offense and failed to get any momentum going in a 61-51 loss on Saturday, which ended a 40-game home winning streak for the Red and Green.

Wash. U. finished the regular season at 20-5 and with a 11-3 record in UAA play, good for second place in the conference behind the Maroons. Though they have a favorable chance at receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, the Bears cannot guarantee themselves a spot.

“If we get in, we’ll just appreciate the fact that we get to play in March, and I think our body of work deserves the kids to play in March. We’ll just have to see,” head coach Nancy Fahey said.

Sophomore Annie Sayers began things quickly for the Bears, scoring six points to fuel an 8-2 run to open the game, but the team then went cold and did not hit a single field goal for nearly 10 minutes afterward. Even though the Bears took an 18-17 lead with 2:59 remaining in the half, Chicago scored the final seven points to take a 24-18 into the locker room.

The first half was difficult offensively for the Bears, who shot 23.3 percent from the field and were only 1-of-7 from three-point range.

Though the Bears did score the first seven points of the second half to take a one-point lead, Chicago grabbed the lead back and held on for the remainder of the game, extending its advantage to as many as 14 points.

Senior captain Alex Hoover led the Bears with 15 points, while sophomore Kristin Anda had 12 and Sayers picked up 10 more. Anda and Sayers also led the team with seven rebounds.

The Bears faced a number of problems offensively, as they shot 28.1 percent from the field, went 1-of-15 from three-point range and tallied an assist-to-turnover ratio of 7-to-15—all season-worst marks. Wash. U. missed the scoring of senior Kathryn Berger, who fouled out midway through the second half with just two points, well below her season average of 14.8.

“You’ve got to [give credit] to Chicago’s defense. We’ve got kids who can shoot very well from the perimeter, and they sat in really well defensively,” Fahey said.

Making the loss even more difficult for the Bears was the fact that it took place on the team’s Senior Day. Prior to the game, the team honored its six seniors – Hoover, Alison Andrews, Berger, Hannah Cusworth, Jenny Lloyd, and Monika Monson.

“I feel for the seniors, I appreciate what they’ve done the last four years and I think that’s what hurts the most,” Fahey said of her seniors, who have reached the national semifinal every year and contributed to last season’s national championship. “You always want to have your seniors go out on a win. I’ve been very happy for them, but it’s just tough.”

Wash. U. will find out its fate for the tournament at 2:00 p.m. Monday, and, with the bitter taste of this loss lingering, the team is ready to get back on the court.

“Once we hear if we’re in, we’re going to be giving it all we have because it’s our time, for our seniors. It’s going to be the last time we’re together as a team, so we’ve got to make the best of it,” Anda said.

James Harrang | Student Life

Senior Chris Malaya and junior Dan Davis practice at Francis Field last week. Davis highlighted the men’s performances at the Illinois College Classic on Friday with a record-breaking time in the 60-meter hurdles. Malaya took first place in the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes.

The meets were the final tune-ups for the Bears before the University Athletic Association Indoor Track and Field Championships next weekend in Chicago, Ill.

In the North Central meet, the women’s team picked up 18 points, despite only having three entries overall. Junior Liz Phillips led the way by winning the mile run, finishing in 4:56.56, 1.57 seconds shy of the NCAA automatic qualifying time. Senior Sangeeta Hardy had the team’s other two entries, finishing fourth behind Phillips in the mile at 5:14.71 and placing sixth in the 800-meter run at 2:23.86.

“Liz’s race was phenomenal. I was really glad I got to be there and watch her race,” Hardy said. “She was ready. She’s been having really great workouts, and she ran that fast on her own.”

On the men’s side, four runners combined for 21 points. Junior Matt Rickard’s 1:58.39 in the 800-meter was good for third place. Junior Paul Garcia paced three Wash. U. runners in the mile, placing second at 4:17.29 while junior Matt Schwab and freshman Caleb Ford finished fifth and sixth, respectively.

The majority of the track and field program traveled to the Illinois College meet, where the women’s team finished first by a margin of 111 points and the men’s team finished a mere eight points behind winner and host Illinois College. The women produced at least one top-three finisher in every event in which they entered, and in some cases, swept the top three.

Junior Erica Jackey became the latest Bear to set a school record, finishing first in the 1,000-meter run with her time of 3:01.70.

“That race was kind of a surprise, kind of out of nowhere,” said Jackey, who had been ill in previous weeks. “It’s really good because it helps me get my confidence back and that I’m going to be okay and that my sickness didn’t put me too far back, training-wise.”

Freshman Liz Godar picked up two first-place finishes in the meet’s first two events, with a time of 8.19 seconds in the 60-meter dash and 27.47 in the 200-meter dash.

Other wins for the Bears included freshman Shannon Howell’s 1:01.25 in the 400-meter dash, freshman Lizzy Handschy’s 11:04.23 in the 3,000-meter run, freshman Jasmine Williams’ 1.61 meters in the high jump, freshman Anna Etherington’s 11 feet (3.35 m) in the pole vault, and senior Moji Hassan’s 13.51 meters in the weight throw.

Junior Dan Davis highlighted the men’s team’s performance with a record-breaking time in the 60-meter hurdles of 8.28. He topped the school record he and junior Tyler Jackson set earlier in the year. Davis also opened the meet with a first-place finish in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.22.

Jackson did not run alongside Davis because of an injury suffered during practice earlier in the week. Because of the limited number of all-time entries for the school in the 60-meter hurdles, breaking the record wasn’t a surprise to Davis.

“I was expecting for one of us to break it,” Davis said. “I was hoping we would get to have a showdown for it, but that’s not how things worked out. We’ll have to do that next year.”

Davis was one of six Wash. U. winners in the meet for the men’s team. Seniors Chris Malaya and Ben Harmon picked up first place in two events each, with Malaya taking the 200-meter (23.08) and 400-meter (51.41) dashes and Harmon taking the high jump (1.92 m) and the long jump (6.89). Junior Patrick Ryan won the 1,000-meter dash at 2:47.58, senior Zach Bahor took the 3,000-meter run, clocking in at 9:03.94, and senior Scott Pettit was the victor in the pole vault at 14-6 (4.42 m).

“We weren’t really racing for a team score as much as seeing what we could do individually, competitively,” Davis said.

Wash. U. will be in Chicago this weekend for the UAA Indoor Championships, its biggest meet of the winter season.

“We’re definitely excited to see what people can do. Last year was definitely a rebuilding year for us, in terms of people on the team and running enough depth,” Jackey said. “This year, we have a great freshman class, especially on the women’s side, so it’s really exciting to see what we can do.”

The meet will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday and will run through Sunday.

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.

Harmon, competing on a tender ankle, set the pace for the Bears by earning points in all six events he raced. Harmon won in the long jump with a leap of 6.94 meters and the pole vault by clearing a height of 4.55 meters. In the high jump, Harmon initially tied Case Western Reserve University’s Obinna Nwanna by clearing 1.96 meters, but finished as runner-up as the result of the tiebreaker. He also took second as a team member in the 4×400 relay alongside senior Chris Malaya, sophomore Dan Davis and graduate student Pierre Hoppenot. Harmon capped off his meet with a fourth-place finish in the triple jump and a fifth-place finish in the 55-meter hurdles.

“We were going in, and everyone was just kind of doing their own thing. . .we knew we could win, and it just panned out nicely for us as a team,” Harmon said. “Everybody just stepped up, and it fell into place with the sprinters, jumpers and athletes, and I just happened to be involved in more than one of those.”

Davis won the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 7.61 seconds, just 0.01 seconds shy of the 15-year-old meet record set by Brandeis’ Mikhael Edel. By winning the event, Davis finished the season undefeated in the 55-meter hurdles, except for a disqualification at the Cardinal Classic two weeks ago.

Head coach Jeff Stiles was certain to reiterate Harmon’s point that although there was one major contribution, the Bears won because they took points at every men’s event except the mile, which he emphasized was “pretty tough to do.”

In other notable finishes, freshman Kevin Lind earned two points in the pole vault, and Hoppenot won the 200-meter dash (22.51 seconds) and grabbed second in the 55-meter dash. Junior Dave Spandorfer finished second in the 3,000-meter run, freshman Tom Arnold took second in the shot put, and junior Scott Pettit was runner-up to Harmon in the pole vault. Sophomore Michael Burnstein also took third in the 5,000-meter run.

Harmon and Davis will both compete in the 2010 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships at DePauw University on March 12-13. Harmon qualified as the sixth seed in the pentathlon, and Davis qualified as the fourth seed in the 55-meter hurdles.

Women’s team

After only trailing the University of Chicago by 37 points through the first day of the UAA championships, the Lady Bears finished with a total of 76 points for third place behind the Maroons and Emory University.

Junior Jessica Londeree took home third in the 3,000-meter run, and classmate Sangeeta Hardy won the 800-meter run (2:15.21), followed closely by sophomore Erica Jackey. Additionally, sophomore Katie Hered cleared a height of 3.40 meters to win the pole vault.

Sophomore Liz Phillips continued her dominance in the mile run, and her time of 4:55.32 crushed the meet record set by Case Western Reserve’s Esther Erb’s in 2007 by more than 6 seconds. With the win, Phillips also broke her own school record in the mile, but she unfortunately missed the automatic qualifying mark for nationals by less than a third of a second.

“The mile tends to be an event where people go out slowly and kick it at the end to win, but I really wanted to run a fast time, so I took it out hard,” Phillips said.

The Bears won the distance medley for the second straight meet, with senior Allison Lee replacing Erica Jackey for the 400-meter leg. Stiles said the substitution was made to try to get more athletes to compete in more events and hopefully earn more points. Despite a time 20 seconds behind that of the team that qualified for nationals last week, this team still set a new meet record that had stood since 2002.

Hardy, Jackey, Phillips and senior Molly Schlamb are also headed to the indoor championships after qualifying for the distance medley at the North Central College Meet on Feb. 20.

The outdoor track season begins for both teams on March 20 with the Rhodes Open meet in Memphis, Tenn.

Senior Aaron Thompson with the ball in the 2009 NCAA Division III National Championship game against Richard Stockton. Thompson was named the D3Hoops Preseason Player of the Year. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

Two national championships. Three consecutive Final Four appearances. Two University Athletic Association  championships. Yes, the past three years for the Washington University men’s basketball program have been fruitful, to say the least.

“It’s a lot of experience that defines this team. It’s experience in tough situations and winning national championships and winning conference championships, but it’s also experience in tough situations that come with accomplishing stuff like that,” graduate student Sean Wallis said. “There’s a lot of things that we’ve faced and felt. Hopefully, it will allow us to handle the things that come our way this year.”

The team has been showered with preseason accolades, picked No. 1 unanimously in polls, and picked to defend their UAA title. With two first-team All-Americans in the lineup, including senior Aaron Thompson, who is preseason player of the year, Wallis and two other returning starters, the outlook on the 2009-2010 season could not be brighter.

“This is a whole new chapter in our basketball history. Even though a lot of the players are the same, they’re one year older; the younger kids are one year more mature,” head coach Mark Edwards said. “Their attitude towards how we’re going to play is going to go a long way in determining how we do.”

The Bears will rely on this experience to guide them through the season. Two key departures from last season, however, have left holes to fill.

Forward Tyler Nading, Wash. U.’s third all-time in points scored and first in games played and steals, graduated, leaving a spot open in the starting lineup and removing a unique dimension from the team.

“I don’t know if outsiders really appreciated all the things he did, from getting a hand on a loose ball, to getting a timely rebound, to getting a tough bucket with two minutes left, down a point, that we really needed. He just made big plays down the stretch,” Wallis said. “Obviously, no one is going to be able to replace Tyler, but hopefully we’ll be able to make due.”

Junior forward Caleb Knepper will start the season in Nading’s spot.

“He’s worked hard in the off-season. If he can give us the rebounding and the defense that Tyler gave us, it’d be great,” Edwards said. “He’s also a very good shooter and scorer, so he gives a little different dimension than we got with Tyler Nading.”

Tim Whittle, the team’s assistant coach for the past five seasons, left to take a head coaching job at Macalester College. Assistant coach Caleb Lawson has been promoted to take his place.

“He worked under Coach Whittle for two years and did a great job of understanding what the role of the assistant coach is,” Edwards said. “He is stepping into that role very well.”

Regardless of the prior success of seasons past, the upcoming season will not be easy. The Bears’ non-conference schedule features a myriad of tough teams.

“We’re going to be very much tested every night going into the UAA,” Wallis said. “People say maybe the UAA might be a little down this year, but it doesn’t matter because this first semester is going to be a big test for us.”

On Dec. 9, No. 15 Wheaton College (Ill.) comes to the Danforth Campus. Last year, in the NCAA tournament sectionals, Wash. U. narrowly edged out Wheaton, 55-52. The team plays Augustana College three days later. The Bears defeated Augustana 87-82 in overtime on Dec. 12 last season.

“It was standing room only up at their place when we played them up at their place last year, Augustana coming in…and now we get to have them on our court,” Edwards said. “I think that they are big games. I think they are competitive games. But at the same time, they catch our attention, and they demand our focus or we could have problems.”

The road to a third consecutive national championship begins at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 15, against MacMurray College in the Field House.

Regardless of the team’s position in March, a championship hardly defines a successful season.

“[The season] is not defined by winning and losing, it’s defined by when you win and lose, and that’s what we realize. The best we can do is go after [a national championship],” Edwards said. “If it doesn’t happen, then we want to be assured of the fact that we put ourselves in a position for it to happen.

Sophomore Emma Brown had two shots in the Nov. 7 loss to the University of Chicago. Wash. U. tied for the UAA title with the University of Rochester and earned an automatic NCAA bid. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

Despite holding an undefeated streak dating back to Sept. 5, the Washington University women’s soccer team (14-3-1, 5-1-1 UAA) could not overcome the University of Chicago on Saturday, Nov. 7.

The Bears, who entered the game one point ahead of the University of Rochester, failed to secure an outright University Athletic Association (UAA) title with the 3-0 loss.

Both teams will have a share of the UAA crown because Rochester tied with Case Western Reserve University. But the Red and Green will receive an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament because they defeated Rochester 2-1 in an earlier season matchup. The appearance will be the team’s seventh consecutive.

The first goal against the Bears occurred 24 minutes into the first half when a Chicago forward shot the ball through the legs of freshman goalkeeper Clara Jaques, about 10 yards away. The Maroons stifled Wash. U.’s offense for the whole game, even though both teams were allowed 11 shots and six corner kicks.

“The biggest challenge, I think, was getting our rotational offense together,” senior captain Carter Schwarberg said. “[Chicago] packed a lot of people in the back, and our forwards had some trouble connecting with each other.”

The second half saw the Maroons’ lead jump by two goals. Eight minutes in, Chicago midfielder Emily Benoit was able to shoot above Jaques’s reach. As the time ticked away, Wash. U. turned up the heat to try to turn the game around, but Chicago matched its intensity. With 10 minutes left, the Chicago offense once again lit up for a give-and-go 12 yards out.

“It’s a conference game, so all these games, they really matter. Every team in our conference is really good…[The games are] always battles and you really just have to be on top of it if you want to win,” senior captain Libby Held said.

As NCAA play approaches, the team hopes to have senior Caryn Rosoff available. Rosoff was absent from the Chicago game because of the lower calf strain injury she received last weekend against New York University.

“We just learned that no matter what, no matter how well we’ve been playing the past couple weeks, we can’t be complacent,” Schwarberg said. “Always on our toes, always ready for the next person no matter what happens.”

Some players said the team just never really found its groove in the game. The Bears are still confident, however, even with the disappointing loss.

“In terms of the tournament, we might have a little bit harder of a seed.” Schwarberg said. “We might have to play a harder team earlier on in the tournament, but I’m not worried about it.”

Tournament seeding will be determined Monday during a live broadcast on the NCAA Web site.

With additional reporting by Hannah Lustman

Freshman Meg Buker sets the ball in the UAA championship match against Emory University on Nov. 7. Buker stepped in for the entire tournament as classmate Marilee Fisher injured her ankle during warm-ups on Nov. 6. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

The Washington University women’s volleyball team lost a match this past weekend for the first time in nearly a month and a half as it dropped the final match of the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship in a sweep to Emory University (25-18, 25-19, 25-21) in Chicago.

The loss, the team’s first since a loss to University of Missouri-St. Louis on Sept. 22, cost the Bears a UAA title and spoiled an otherwise stellar weekend of play in which the team swept Rochester University (25-15, 25-13, 25-23), Case Western Reserve University (25-17, 25-21, 25-14) and New York University (25-13, 25-17, 25-14).

“Certainly we played an incredibly motivated team, and we didn’t execute the skills very well,” head coach Rich Luenemann said.

The Bears hit a roadblock early on when freshman setter Marilee Fisher injured her ankle in warm-ups for the first match. Freshman Meg Buker took her place and averaged 29 assists per game for the tournament. Her strong play was a key part of the Bears’ success in their first three matches.

“You always have to go with that mentality of being prepared to go in,” Buker said. “I have a great team there to support me. That takes a lot of the pressure off because you know that you have five other girls who are going to take care of business and have your back.”

Against Rochester, sophomore Lauren Budde put on a tremendous showing, registering 16 kills to only one error while also tallying 12 digs. Budde put up a similar line in the following game against Case, with 13 kills and 12 digs.

On Saturday, the Bears came out strong again in their win against NYU. Senior co-captain Erin Albers picked up 13 kills to lead the team, which had one of its best offensive days of the season with a .390 hitting percentage.

So after three strong performances to begin the weekend, what happened against Emory?

“Really we just kind of got frazzled in that last game, it was just mental mistakes, mental errors,” sophomore Tricia Brandt said. “We had a few too many serve-outs.”

Certainly the Bears didn’t do themselves any favors against Emory, registering 20 errors. Their .150 hitting percentage was also one of their lowest outputs of the season.

“For whatever reason, that was probably not our usual self out there,” Buker said. “And we seemed to have a hard time getting the momentum back or maintaining it in the first place.”

Despite the loss, the Bears seemed content with how the weekend went. “We really played well and Meg really stepped up under the pressure and she just did a great job,” Brandt said. “We had a really strong tournament in all of our games, except this last one.”

With Wash. U. being picked as regional site for the NCAA tournament, which starts next weekend, the Bears have a great chance to put this loss behind them. Given that the team that has finished second in the UAA Tournament has won the national title each of the last two years, the team certainly isn’t put off by this one loss.

“When we got together at the end, I just said, ‘I want everybody to take two minutes and give yourself a little kick in the butt and evaluate what you could have done better,’ and certainly we’ll focus on that,” Luenemann said.

With additional reporting by Hannah Lustman