In the first game, senior Adam Merzel pitched his first complete game this year, allowing only two earned runs and striking out six. Senior Travis May went two-for-two with a double, an RBI single and two runs scored as Wash. U. earned a 4-2 win.

The teams alternated runs in the second game, both scoring in the third and fifth innings until Webster took a 4-2 lead in the top of the sixth. The Red and Green pulled out a three-run, two-out rally in the bottom of the sixth to steal a 5-4 victory. Freshman Kyle Billig stole two bases, raising his season total to 30 and breaking the single-season team record. Billig also scored the game-winning run.

The Bears will travel to Chicago this weekend to open a crucial four-game series with the University of Chicago. The first pitch of the Friday doubleheader is at noon. (Sahil Patel)

Drew Koch

Sophomore Zachary Query maintiains possession against a Webster University player in a game on September 2 scoring one of the goals that night, he also scored the first goal in a game against Sewanee on Monday, Sept. 6.

Wash. U. 7, Webster 0

In the Bears’ rainy home opener, the story of the night was offense. The Bears scored three goals within the first 20 minutes of play and did not let up.

“We’ve been pumped for this game for a couple months now,” senior defender Harry Beddo said. “We knew that we wanted to get on them right away, and if we hadn’t scored early they would have had more and more confidence, but we had three goals on them relatively quickly.”

Six Bears scored: Beddo, sophomores Zach Query, Matthew Shelton and Brian Wright, and junior Pat McLean each tallied one, while junior Kevin Privalle doubled his goal total from last season, connecting with the back of the net twice.

The Bears effectively controlled possession the entire game. Few shots threatened the Red and Green net, and the ball remained in the Gorloks’ half.

“We’ve been focusing a lot more on attack this year,” Privalle said. “We’re returning lots of starting defenders and then we have some new freshmen defenders coming in, and all of them are skilled, so in practices we can focus a lot more on finishing and shooting drills and I think it definitely showed.”

Each player who dressed for the game saw playing time, which head coach Joe Clarke noted how substitutions kept Webster at a disadvantage.

“We worked really hard with the first group, we have a lot of depth,” Clarke said. “The second group came on and played with just as much fire and intensity and I think that kind of wore the other team down.”

Wash. U. 0, Birmingham 0 (OT)

After an evening of offense in their first game of the season, the Bears had trouble finding the net in the second game against Birmingham Southern. The team recorded only 11 shots, four coming on goal.

According to junior midfielder Michael Chamberlin, the Pumas’ formation made offensive opportunities difficult to find.

“They play with five guys in the midfield, it was more of a challenge to knock the ball around,” Chamberlin said. “Both sides had some chances, some good chances, obviously neither team put any chances away.”

Query added that Birmingham Southern’s talent was at a higher level than teams Wash. U. had previously faced. “They were very physical, very fit. They for sure were the best team we’ve played thus far,” Query said. “That kind of game, that kind of physical game is what we’re going to face later in the season, so it was a good early test.”

Two goalies, senior Andrew Serio and freshman Jonathan Jebson, continued to split time in the net. Serio played the first half, while Jebson was in the game for the second half and the duration of both overtime periods. In their first three games, the Bears have allowed only one goal in 290 minutes of play.

“Defensively, we’re very solid this year. [On our back line]…we have a lot of studs,” Query said “If we can just score this year, we’re set.”

Despite the draw, the Bears the team resolved to improve performance with a day of practice. Query noted that the team spent the ensuing practice day focusing on technical improvements.

“There’s a lot of things tactically that [coach] Clarke has been really emphasizing. It’s early in the season so we haven’t had a lot of time to put them into practice,” Query said. “We were just a little bit sloppy in the first game…in the next game we had a full day to focus…it really came through.”

Wash. U. 3, Sewanee University 1

In the final game of the tournament, the Red and Green jumped to an early lead. Query opened the scoring in the 17th minute, and Privalle, recently named University Athletic Association athlete of the week, followed with another goal just over four minutes later on an assist from sophomore Brian Wright. Query described that most of the goals came off of pattern plays discussed in practice.

“[An early lead is] really important, it’s really nice, it’s something we’re trying to do this year is jump out on teams we should be able to beat,” Chamberlin said. “Our forwards have been doing a great job helping to get those goals in early when we’re getting those chances.”

The Bears allowed one goal in the 55th minute when senior forward John Duncan was charged with a yellow card, allowing the Tigers a penalty kick. Tiger Samuel Edoung-Biyo failed to convert his shot, but capitalized on the rebound to cut the Bears’ lead to one.

Less than five minutes later, however, the Bears sealed the game when a pass from Duncan connected with Chamberlin in front of the net. The score was Chamberlin’s first for the season.

“The first goal is always special, to break the ice a little bit. It was a play that we’ve gone through in practice a few times,” Chamberlin said. “Duncan crossed an excellent ball in a perfect spot and I was able to beat the keeper to it, and that was all I really had to do.”

Ending the tournament with a win gave the team a positive impression of its play for the weekend.

“We were very pleased with the results,” Query said. “We learned a lot about ourselves…last year we would have played well but tied or lost. This year it’s nice to have the results on our side as well.”

The Bears are back at home for this weekend’s games; tonight they face Greenville College at 7 p.m. and Sunday’s game against Rhodes is set for 3 p.m.

After Friday’s sweeps of Webster University and Millikin University, the team suffered its first loss of the year to Hope College (25-23, 25-20, 18-25, 25-23) Saturday morning. The Bears rebounded in the afternoon with a quick defeat of Augustana College (25-9, 25-17, 25-18) to finish with a 3-1 record for the tournament.

Click here for full coverage of the 2009 Bear Classic.

Sophomore Kristen Thomas goes up for a block in a match against Millikin University. The Bears won 3-0 on Friday night. (Paul Goedeke | Student Life)

The Washington University volleyball team’s hot start came to a halt on Saturday, as the Bears split a pair of matches en route to a second place finish in the 2009 Bears Classic.

After Friday’s sweeps of Webster University and Millikin University, the team suffered its first loss of the year to Hope College (25-23, 25-20, 18-25, 25-23) Saturday morning. The Bears rebounded in the afternoon with a quick defeat of Augustana College (25-9, 25-17, 25-18) to finish with a 3-1 record for the tournament.

“It’s disappointing at the moment, but I think it’ll be good experience for us to have that loss and to know what we need to do in the future to prevent a loss like that again,” senior captain Laura Brazeal said.

Click here to see a slide show of the 2009 Bears Classic

No. 22 Hope, which entered the game as the tournament’s only other nationally ranked team, took control of the match early by winning the first two sets. Both sets were neck and neck, with the first set being knotted at 23 and the second at 20, but Hope grabbed the final points in both.

The Bears had a much stronger third set, holding on to an early lead and winning 25-18. In the fourth set, the Bears rallied to tie the score once again at 23 after falling behind early. Nevertheless, Hope ended the match by taking the final two points, winning the match at three sets to one.

Sophomore Kristen Thomas led the team with a career-high 19 kills in the match, while freshman Meg Buker had 23 assists.

Head coach Rich Luenemann knew what was wrong with his team in the first match. “We didn’t block well,” Luenemann said. “We need to block much better than we did.”

Back on the court a few hours later, the Bears made short work of Augustana by pulling away quickly in all three sets and keeping the visiting Vikings from putting together any runs. Sophomore Erin Kasson led with 24 kills, while senior captain Erin Albers had a walloping .818 hitting percentage.

The team was happy to rebound after tasting defeat for the first time all year.

“It feels really good,” Brazeal said. “It’s nice to know that we can still bounce back, and I think that’ll help us a lot later in the season.”

Despite losing one of their matches on Saturday, the Bears’ biggest loss of the weekend may have not even been on the scoreboard.

Senior setter Vicki Blood, who has been hampered by a dislocated shoulder since practices began, was limited in the first match and sat out the second match entirely. Blood will remain out indefinitely.

“It was devastating to lose Vicki, who’s probably one of the best setters in Division III,” Luenemann said.

Fortunately, Buker and fellow freshman Marilee Fisher have stepped in for Blood and have performed admirably, though Luenemann said she knows they’re still developing.

“Both are outstanding setters,” Luenemann said. “They have to know how to run things, and they’re both growing into the process of running the offense.”

“It’s definitely a challenge,” Fisher said when asked about the responsibility of replacing someone like Blood. “It’s really intense, but it’s been fun. Meg’s handled it really well, and I think I’ve been all right.”

Fisher and Buker will look to continue improving, while the Bears will seek to improve on their 5-1 record at the WU/Asics Invitational this weekend at the Field House.

The Red and Green face preseason No. 6 Ohio Northern University and No. 13 Pacific Lutheran University on Friday. Ohio Northern ended Washington University’s NCAA tournament run last season. The Bears also face No. 17 Concordia University and No. 15 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater on Saturday.

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.