Student Life Archives

John Triebe

The women’s swim team capped off its season last weekend by doing what it does best: breaking school records.

WU sent six swimmers to the NCAA Championships at Emory University and finished in tenth place overall, the highest finish in school history and a significant jump up from its finish last year.

“I was really happy with the team’s finish,” freshman Tracey Hendrickson said. “Placing in the top ten was one of our goals at the beginning of the season. We were definitely anxious. We didn’t know which way it was going to go-we were either 10th or 11th all weekend, so we knew it was going to be close.”

And close it was on Saturday, as the Bears went into their final event of the weekend, the consolation final 400-freestyle relay, on the bubble of tenth place. Freshmen Jennifer Scott, Tracey Hendrickson, sophomore Brianna Krull, and senior Rachel Feldman teamed up for a tenth place finish with a time of 3:33.61, breaking the school record and shaving more than a second off of their qualifying time from earlier that day.

“I think that our relay on Saturday night was probably the best race that we all had together as a team,” Krull said. “Everyone didn’t swim as well as they had expected to in the morning, but we came back at night and went a second-and-a-half faster than in the morning.”

Still, the Bears remained in eleventh place after the event, and all they could do was sit and watch the final event of the night, the 400 free relay final, and await news of their fate.

After calculating the scores, WU realized that the team directly above them in the standings, the College of New Jersey, could finish last in the race and retain the tenth spot overall. The only way WU could achieve its tenth place goal was if CNJ was disqualified from the race.

The Bears stood on the sidelines with watchful eyes, and sure enough, it appeared that one of the CNJ swimmers jumped early. It wasn’t until the race was over and WU looked up at the scoreboard that they knew that CNJ had in fact been disqualified, and the Bears had finished in tenth place.

“None of us were expecting that,” freshman Pam Gieseker said. “Usually a team is pretty careful if they know they’re under a lot of pressure. When we looked up there and saw the ‘D,’ we were just shocked.”

In addition to their strong team finish, the Bears also accumulated 12 All-American honors (given out to the top eight finishers in each event), including Scott’s fourth-place finish in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:01.90. The 800 free relay combo of Scott, Hendrickson, Feldman, and Gieseker placed fourth with a time of 7:41.23, the best-ever WU relay finish at nationals.

“After we swam, all these coaches came up to [head coach] Brad [Shively] and congratulated us,” Feldman said. “I guess they were impressed because we beat Denison and other schools we weren’t expected to beat.”

Allie Boettger also continued WU’s record-breaking streak by posting school-best times in the 100 breast with a time of 1:06.38, good for a seventh place finish, and in the 200 breast, taking fourteenth with a time of 2:24.65.

“Breaking school records in the 100 and 200 breast had been a huge goal of mine all season,” Boettger said, “so that was a really satisfying way to end the season. I wasn’t just satisfied with my times, but also that I could score so many points for my team. It was cool to place that high individually, but to me, it was more satisfying just knowing that those points went to the team.”

Hendrickson also had a strong showing in her individual events, taking 10th in the 200 free in 1:54.19 and 11th in the 500 free with a time of 5:03.53.

Even though they just finished their season, the Bears wasted no time making goals for next year.

“We actually talked about that on the plane ride home,” Krull said. “We went in [to nationals] this year just excited to be there, but next year it’s not just getting in, it’s getting into the top eight.”

With such a strong freshman class, Feldman is confident she’s leaving the team in good hands, but can’t help feeling a little sad about her departure.

“It’s definitely been the best season since I’ve been here,” Feldman said. “It’s a completely different team than it has been. I’ll miss the people and being part of a team and being able to eat whatever I want.”

The women will get to take a little rest before training for next season starts, and many are excited to have some extra free time.

“I haven’t really had college life yet,” Hendrickson said. “Ever since the beginning of September, I’ve been swimming every day. I’m probably only going to take about two weeks off and then get back into the pool. The goals aren’t going to accomplish themselves next year. I’m definitely looking forward to a little break, though.”

Pam Buzzetta

The swimming and diving teams proved last weekend that basketball isn’t the only Washington University team that can break records.

While at the UAA Championships last weekend, the men and women not only placed second overall, the highest finish in school history, but also notched more national qualifying times than ever before.

“I’m really impressed with how everybody did,” Allie Boettger said, “but I’d like to say I knew it would go like that all along, because we set these goals at the beginning of the year.”

This performance was quite an improvement from last year, when both teams finished fourth overall, and sent only one swimmer and one diver to the NCAA championships.

“This was definitely the best conference [championship meet] I’ve been to by far,” senior Rachel Feldman said. “The enthusiasm the whole time was crazy. We were just up for the whole meet.”

The swimmers received lots of support from their parents, many of whom made the trek to Case Western to support the Bears.

“Pretty much one or two of everyone’s parents were there,” Eric Triebe said. “They had reserved a block of the stands where they were all standing and cheering and holding signs up and just going nuts.”

The divers’ high finishes also helped rack up points for the Bears. Notable performances included Ryan Braun placing first in the 1m and 3m competitions and Paloma Garner taking third in the 1m and 3m.

“Without the divers, we wouldn’t have gotten second” Triebe said. “That’s where we really beat the other team.”

In addition to the team accolades, the Bears set countless UAA, school, and pool records.

“There were so many fast swims that I couldn’t even keep track of them,” senior Brian Hindman said. “I can honestly say there was not anybody on our team that had a bad weekend in the pool.”

WU also racked up conference honors outside the pool.

Senior Ryan Braun earned the Men’s Diver of the Year award, and head coach Brad Shively and his staff ran away with the Men’s and Women’s Coaching Staff of the Year award.

In addition, freshmen Tracey Hendrickson and Triebe received UAA Rookie of the Year honors. Hendrickson was also named the Female Swimmer of the Year.

“I was shocked,” Hendrickson said. “People had told me ‘Tracey, you’re definitely going to get rookie of the year’…but Swimmer of the Year, I never expected that.”

The team celebrated its victories on the bus ride from the pool to a banquet that their parents had arranged. Highlights of the bus ride included freshman Mike Slavik’s dance down the aisle to the tune of Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

The adrenaline and excitement had finally worn off by Sunday’s plane ride home.

“On the plane ride [to Case Western], everyone was up and talking and having a good time,” Slavik said. “On the way back, everyone was sleeping at some point. Everyone was wiped out. I went home and I didn’t even unpack. I went right to bed.”

Now the team is back to business as usual, with two-hour morning workouts twice a week and two-and-a-half hour practices every night. The teams are building up their muscles again and then will taper their workouts in the weeks leading up to nationals, which take place at Emory from Mar. 13-15 for the women and Mar. 20-22 for the men.

“It’s like a mini-season for the next three weeks.” Hendrickson said. “It’s impossible to carry out the taper for this long, so we’ll train pretty hard for the next two weeks and rest and hopefully do even better than [we did] at the UAA’s.”

The intense training period will encompass spring break, but that doesn’t seem to bother the team.

“Some of my friends are trying to rub it in my face, ‘Oh you’re going to be stuck on campus during break,'” Boettger said.

But it’ll be worth it.

Pam Buzzetta

Senior Victor Acevedo was so exhausted at last weekend’s Washington University Invitational that he paid little attention to the meet being his last ever at Millstone pool.

Instead, the only thing he could think about was what he would eat for dinner: veal or tacos.

“It was sad that it was our last home meet,” Acevedo said. “But at the same time you’re so tired that you’re like, ‘I don’t care, get me out of here. I just want to go eat and sleep.'”

Despite the swimmers’ fatigue from training so intensely for the UAA Championships, which is being held February 12-15, the women still captured first place out of six teams with 1,095 points, while the men took second out of seven teams with 799.50 points.

The swimmers expected their tiredness to result in slower times than usual. However, the women still had numerous first place finishes, including those of freshmen Allie Boettger in the 100 (1:08.47) and 200 breaststroke (2:29.68), Tracey Hendrickson in the 200 IM (2:13.46) and 100 butterfly (1:00.53) and Jennifer Scott in the 200m (2:00.14) and the 500 freestyle (5:16. 78).

“Everybody that got in the water swam really good races, even if the times weren’t that spectacular,” Boettger said. “I think the tough training that we put in just helped us to finish those hard races.”

In addition, sophomores Su Wang and Sarah Goldberg captured first place in the 200 butterfly (2:21.24) and 1650 freestyle (18:40.37), respectively. WU also won the 200-medley relay (1:53.81), 400-freestyle relay (3:42.55) and the 800-freestyle relay (8:04.44).

“Everyone was so worn out after the meet that we were just glad it was over,” senior Laurel Jacobson said. “We honestly didn’t have our best meet of the year because we’re pretty broken down… this meet wasn’t really about winning, it’s more like getting through it.”

On the opposite end of the pool, the divers were busy winning events as well, as junior Paloma Garner won the one-meter diving and sophomore Julie Heidbreder took first in three-meter diving. Though there were only two other women divers at the meet (from DePauw and Lindenwood Universities), Garner attested that the competition was fierce.

“This is probably the most competitive meet that we’ve had,” Garner said. “For the guys and the girls, the quality of diving was a lot better at this meet, just because of the schools that were there.

Senior Ryan Braun continued his dominance on the boards with a first place finish in the one-meter diving. In addition to Braun, freshman Michael Slavik won the 200 freestyle (1:46.59) and freshman Eric Triebe grabbed first place in the 200 breaststroke (2:14.33). The men also took first in the 200-medley relay (1:37.40) with the teamof Slavik, Triebe, and seniors Jon Vigdorchik and Matt Johnson.

“We had good time, even though we were pretty tired, which is a good sign because that means that even though you’re broken down you still challenge yourself and it gives you confidence for conference finals,” Acevedo said.

As for the conference championships, both the men and women expect to surpass their fourth place finishes from last year. They would also like to qualify individuals for the relays for the NCAA Championships, in the hope of placing in the top ten at nationals.

“We all set goals at the beginning of the year,” Boettger said. “The [women’s] goal was to place top two at conference, and have five relays make ‘A’ [national] qualifying times. Now, I feel confident we can do that.”

As senior Rachel Feldman pointed out, the team must concentrate on the conference championships before it can start thinking seriously about nationals.

“We have to worry about ‘conference’ first or we won’t get to nationals… we want relays to get fast enough times to go to nationals.”

While WU has not faced any of its conference foes this season, the swimmers have been keeping tabs on their competition, and, at least on paper, the outlook for the conference championships looks bright.

“I don’t know how many other [teammates] do this,” Triebe said, “but I get bored after practice and I go online and compare their times to ours, and I think it’s looking pretty good.

With the two most important competitions of the season still to come, it’s easy to understand why the seniors weren’t necessarily teary-eyed at their last home meet of the season.

“There’s still a lot of unfinished business in the pool that thinking about it being my last meet wasn’t on my mind,” said senior Joel Ristuccia. “I can’t even start thinking about the end [of my collegiate swimming career] because there’s so much to done.”

courtesy of Brian Hindman

During ten days of training over winter break in Bradenton, Florida, the swim team partook in only one competition.
Except this one didn’t take place in the water; instead, it occurred at an all-you-can-eat ribs restaurant.
For the record, Michael Slavik just barely captured first-place after eating 45 ribs, with Eric Triebe, coming in at a close second with 44.
“I refused to lose the ribs competition,” Slavik says, though Triebe claims, “I let [Slavik] win.”
Despite the lack of any true meets during winter training, the team still worked their bodies to the limit by practicing every day without a rest. Triebe, a freshman, describes his first collegiate training trip as “the hardest I’ve ever worked in my life. After the first day, I was pretty much sore the entire time.”
Many of the seniors felt this winter training was even more intense than in previous years.
“This was the hardest training trip I’ve been on in my four years,” senior Matt Johnson says. “We never got a full day off. We practiced twice a day every day. We would get a morning off but even then we would still run and do dry land and abs.”
After pounding their bodies (and stuffing them, in some cases) over break, the team wasn’t exactly surprised that they fell to Division II defending national champion Truman State University at home on Friday night. The men lost 131-98, while the women fell 134-96 in the team’s first meet since December.
“Truman’s really good, and we got a pretty significant beating from them,” Hindman says. “We thought maybe we would have been a little more competitive than we were, but we just got back from Florida, and everyone was tired.”
Some of the individual highlights from the meet included Johnson’s first place finish in the 100 free (48.89) and second place time in the 50 free (21.97), as well as the one-two-three finish of Allie Boettger (2:30.23), Jessica Schneider (2:37.44) and Katie Rintelman (2:42.64) in the 200 breast.
“We’re a sport that I don’t know that it’s always important to win,” Coach Brad Shively says. “As much as anything else, we want to learn something. We competed hard, and we had some races that I thought we could really be proud of where we fought an entire race against people who were just as talented as us.”
Divers Julie Heidbreder and Ryan Braun continued to dominate as they both put up NCAA Championships qualifying marks in the one-meter with scores of 245.77 and 308.55, respectively, with Braun also qualifying in the three-meter with a score of 313.95.
Braun’s scores broke four school and pool records, all previously held by him. Braun acknowledges that the divers were a little more energized than the swimmers were right after winter training.
“It’s different for diving,” Braun says. “It’s more of a timing issue with the board and body awareness in the air and getting into rhythm of things. We trained very hard over winter training, but it paid off because we were better set up to do well, as opposed to having to get in the swing of things when we got back.”
The swim team quickly bounced back from its loss, though, as the men defeated Wabash in Indiana and the women handled Lindenhurst 186-40 on Saturday. In addition to sweeping every event with first place finishes, the women’s 200 relay team of Boettger, Laurel Jacobson, Su Wang and Nora Ames made an automatic national qualifying cut with a time of 1:57.00.
“The meet on Saturday was a short meet instead of a long meet,” says Tracey Hendrickson, who posted a 200 butterfly national automatic qualifying time back in December. “We swam shorter events which was a nice change… also the competition wasn’t as great, so it gave us a chance to motivate ourselves.”
Next up for the team is this weekend’s Washington University Invitational. Some of the opposing teams include University of Missouri-Rolla, Drury University and DePauw University, all teams the Bears have beaten this season.
“We hope to win the invite,” Slavik says. “We’ve seen all these teams before, and we’ve beat them all before, and I’m sure they’re all in the same condition we are. This time of year it’s really hard to swim fast.”
The team hopes that their bodies will start to reap the rewards from winter training sooner rather than later.
“We were all dead [from training],” Triebe says, “but it was good because every time you get sore you just break down your muscles and at the end of the season you’ll be stronger. Even though it hurts you’re just going for the bigger goal.”
And for Triebe and Slavik, that ultimate goal includes winning not only conference, but also another key event: the Pointer’s pizza-eating competition.

Alyssa Gregory

Senior Brian Hindman sat down with us to discuss random topics such as staying in shape, hunting for jobs, and “swim-cest.”

Q: So you’re from Alabama.what do you do there?
A: Well besides picking cotton and riding tractors, you can practice your skeet shooting or dove hunting or clean the outhouse.

Q: Interesting. How has the team been doing this year?
A: Better than ever. We have the fastest team that WU has ever had. We got a lot of good freshmen, which hopefully will bring in more good freshmen. They’re kinda cool, except for this one kid who drinks chocolate milk through his nose.

Q: Describe a typical swim practice.
A: Well, we’d start out with some dry-land exercises, sit ups, throwing a medicine ball, lunges, jump rope, then we get in the water and do a warm-up set, followed by a kicking set or a pulling set. And then we usually break it down into like groups of either the butterfliers or backstrokers or whatever and everybody works their asses off in main set. Sometimes people throw up. Practice lasts a good three hours a day in the afternoon and two hours in the morning if you do the doubles. Doubles are twice a week.

Q: Don’t you get hungry? I mean if I worked out five hours a day I’d be starving.
A: Yes. That’s why Center Court is so good, except for the explosive diarrhea that comes afterwards.

Q: Do you have time to do anything else during the swim season?
A: Like other extracurriculars? No. Pretty much it’s eat, swim, eat, class/sleep, eat, swim, eat, homework, sleep.

Q. What’s the best part about getting up before class to work out?
A: I’m up in time to get breakfast sandwiches at Bear’s Den. They’re so good.

Q: How much do you guys interact with the women’s team?
A: Are you talking about in practice or “swimcestuously”?

Q: Well the second sounds more interesting. Tell me about that.
A: Swimcest is like floor-cest or incest or any other kind of -cest. It’s just wrong. It can lead to many kinds of problems.

Q: It seems like the swimmers are kind of cliquey. Why is that, Brian?
A: Because no one wants to hang out with swimmers cause they’re too weird. I mean really no one else likes their hair to turn white and fall out and the constant smell of chlorine. Most people get turned off by that but swimmers get turned on.

Q: How you get along with the rest of your teammates?
A: Not so well right now. They were jealous because I got to do a 20 questions. And we have one teammate in particular who has trouble keeping his mouth to himself. He bites, he claws, he gives wedgies.

Q: Do you haze the freshmen? Or only the ones you don’t like?
A: Yeah, we tie them to the bleachers and beat them with wet towels.

Q: Brian, you’re so violent.
A: Actually we sit in a dark room in our speedos passing a candle and swapping romantic stories.

Q: That’s better. So why should students come watch a swim meet?
A: [with a blank stare]. Ummm. ‘Cause..yeah. Next.

Q: Ok, here’s a question you’ll like. How many times a day do you pee in the pool?
A: At least two or three.

Q: Are you speaking for yourself or on behalf of the team?
A: Two is the minimum. But some people choose to pee more and I encourage it. We don’t have a baby pool so we have to pee in the big pool.

Q: Do swimmers drink a lot?
A: I think swimmers don’t drink often, like many times a week, but when it rains it pours. And by pour I mean the beer really pours.

Q: What’s your favorite bar?
A: Cusamano’s. Well, it used to be until it didn’t let me in because they didn’t think a passport was an official government ID, so I haven’t been there since.

Q: Do you enjoy shaving your entire body before conference?
A: It makes dressing up in drag a lot easier.

Q: How do you get along with the coaches?
A: The coaching staff is the reason I’ve been swimming for four years. They’re my favorite favorite favorite favorite. (Are you reading this Brad?)

Q: Do you do anything to stay in shape during the off season?
A: A lot of heavy lifting. and by lifting I mean lifting kegs of beer. But besides that, yes. In my imaginary happy fantasy world all I would have to do would be lift beer to my mouth, but unfortunately I have to do a lot of running. I actually try to avoid being at the pool.

Q: Do you think you’ll swim after college?
A: I’ll never be on a team again. I might swim occasionally. I don’t like to swim when you’re not on a team. Swimming by yourself is a lot harder, because you don’t have anyone else suffering with you.

Q: What are you going to do when you graduate?
A: I saw a job opening listed for Jack in the Box, which would be my dream job. That or I could find somebody to pay me to watch TV.

Q: Let me know when you find that. Well, I think we’ve surpassed 20 questions.any final thoughts?
A: Swimmers don’t get enough credit. Because we are the hardest working team with the longest season and we put our bodies through more hell than anyone else does.
_________________________________________________________________________

Brian Hindman:

Year: Senior

Birthday: October 28, 1980

Height: 6’

Hometown: Huntsville, AL

Worst class: Macroeconomics. It was the most boring and worst thing I’ve ever put myself through my life.

Favorite movie: Zoolander and Detroit Rock City

Favorite clothing: My John Deere hat that I got for five dollars at the flea market near Bland, Missouri.

Volleyball:

NCAA Division III Tournament St. Olaf vs Washington Univ (Nov. 15, 2002 at St. Louis, MO)

1 2 3
St. Olaf 20 23 16 Record: (20-15)
Washington University 30 30 30 Record: (38-1)

NCAA Division III Tournament Wartburg College vs Washington Univ (Nov. 15, 2002 at St. Louis, MO)

1 2 3
Wartburg College 22 11 22 Record: (30-10)
Washington University 30 30 30 Record: (39-1)
_________________________________________________________________________

Cross Country:

NCAA Division III Midwest Regional Cross Country Championships (November 16, 2002 in Peoria, IL)
Women’s Cross Country
Event 2 Women’s 6,000 Meter
1. Washington University
12 Brooke Lane 22:07.46
20 Emily Lahowetz 22:22.83
21 Melanie Mikecz 22:23.07
29 Andrea Moreland 22:37.14
35 Catherine Ogorzaly 22:43.02
39 Natalie Karas 22:46.76
74 Mindy Kuhl 23:30.36
_________________________________________________________________________

IM Ultimate Frisbee:

League A
Semi Finals
Huck Yeah 11 Med School A 12
Slipped Disc. 10 Shy’s Cell # 3

Finals
Huck Yeah 13
Med School A 10

League B
Semi Finals
Frog 10 Munkey Goddesses 5
#1 Stunnaz 5 Proto Planetary Disc 9

Frog 12
Proto Planetary Disc 7
_________________________________________________________________________

IM Coed Football:

A League
Semi Finals
WUMAN 11 PT 05 6
Backrow Who Ridahs 0 WURAA 18

WURAA defeated WUMAN in the finals

B League
Semi Finals
PT 04 ? F Troop 6
En Fuego ? Xander 0

Finals
PT 04 6
F Troop 0
_________________________________________________________________________

IM Women’s Football:

Semi Finals
Red Dog ’02 17 PT 04 Women 20
Alpha Phi 12 BB’s 0

Finals
Red Dog ’02 15
PT 04 Women 20
_________________________________________________________________________

IM Women’s Soccer:

Semi Finals
PT Women def Hot Damn def
Hot Tomales The Rubies

PT Women defeated Hot Damn in the finals
_________________________________________________________________________

IM Men’s Football:

Point League
Semi Finals
Sigma Alpha Epsilon 27 Sigma Phi Epsilon 0
Theta Xi 14 Phi Delta Theta 13

Finals
Sigma Alpha Epsilon 8
Phi Delta Theta 6

Undergrad A League
Semi Finals
The Man 6 Mean Lien Machine 5
WURAA 26 The Man Handler 14

WURAA defeats The Man Handler in the finals

Undergrad B League
Semi Finals
Thrush 13 Receivers 19
LEV 14 A.U. 7

Finals
LEV 32
Receivers 14

Open A League
Semi Finals
Big Peonas 34 B-Schoolers 13
Tsunami 12 PT0405 20

Finals
Big Peonas 13
B-Schoolers 20

Open A League
Semi Finals
International Shoe 32 Widowmakers 15
The (MB) A-Team 0 Lopata 24

Finals
International Shoe 18
Widowmakers 0

Annabelle de St. Maurice

Concussions. Dislocated fingers. Ripped-off armpit hairs. These are just a few of the injuries men on the water polo team have suffered while playing the game.

“It’s a more brutal sport than you would think,” said first year medical student Daniel Morris.

Referees typically only call fouls for hits that happen above the water, meaning players can get away pretty much anything under the surface.

“Once it’s above the water it’s illegal,” said junior Steven Yu. “People kick and punch. getting kicked in the balls is the worst.”

The eighteen men on the WU team hope to be the ones doing the kicking this weekend when they compete in the national club championship at California Polytechnic State University.

This will be the club’s second trip to nationals after only three years as a competitive club sport. The team also went to nationals in 2000, but only after the true regional winner, Western Illinois, declined its invitation to attend.

“This year we actually won, so we feel more justified in going,” said senior captain Nigel Davies.

WU played in three tournaments during the season, and won its bid to nationals by beating University of Missouri in the Great Plains Division Championships. During the tournament, WU also beat the typical first place finisher Western.

With wins against Western and Mizzou, plus a 10-1 regular season record, the team is confident that it will perform better at nationals this year.

“We’re hoping to win at least one game,” said co-president Andy Rice. “It’s for the experience. We know what to expect.”

In addition to the juniors who played in nationals last time, the team has added men who have experience playing on other teams. These include Morris, who was named a third-team All-American while playing for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Killips, who played competitive water polo for seven years in high school. In addition, the team added 24-year-old coach Todd Black, who played at the University of Redlands and sometimes acts as a substitute goalie for the team during practices.

“Two years ago [during nationals] we were freshmen, and now we’re juniors,” said Yu. “Now we have more talent and better leadership.”

“If you get people [with no experience] as freshmen, they can get good by the time they are seniors,” said Morris. “This game has a pretty sharp learning curve. If you don’t learn you drown.”

The team also gets players from the other extreme: those ex-swimmers who want a change from the grueling schedule of a varsity team. At least four of the team members, including Davies, swam on the WU varsity team before making the jump to water polo.

“[Water polo] is so much more fun,” said Davies. “It’s not swimming. It’s a completely different entity.”

That’s not to say playing water polo is easy. Games last 28 minutes and use about half of the pool’s full length of 50 yards.

“I truly believe that it’s the hardest sport out there,” said Killip. “It involves swimming and fighting under water and it’s basically just swimming but all sprinting, and you have to do stuff with your arms and it takes a lot more coordination than you realize.”

Two of the main problems the team has had as a club sport are player dedication and funding. The team hasn’t had too much trouble with either this year. Player attendance at games and practices has been good, though sometimes it’s difficult to get full squad show up for Sunday afternoon practices since players have football games and homework to distract them.

“We’ve considered making practices mandatory, but we realize this is a club program, and there’s nothing we can do,” said co-president Steve Bourque.

Also, the team usually has to fight for money to cover the costs of tournaments and the trip to nationals. The team is a member of the Sports Club Federation, which Student Union funds, and it must appeal to SCF to receive more money. Last week, the team did just that and received $2,500 to help cover the $5,000 cost for nationals. This means players will only have to pay about $100 or $200 out of their own pockets.

“[SCF] has been a big help for us this season organizing our tournament and preparing for nationals,” says co-president Bourque.

Despite things like funding and past tournaments that have been going the team’s way this year, its members remain bluntly realistic about its chances at nationals.

“We won’t be outclassed,” said Rice. “We’re just going to be outplayed.”

The second-ranked Washington University volleyball team will look for its 14th consecutive University Athletic Association Championship, and its 15th overall as the Bears travel to the UAA Championships this Friday and Saturday at the Veale Center on the campus of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. The Bears, who have won 15 of 16 UAA Championships since the inception of the league in 1987, boast an all-time UAA record of 177-3.

Washington University (32-1) got back on the winning trail on Saturday with a 3-0 victory over sixth-ranked Mount St. Joseph after dropping its first match of the season, a 3-0 setback to 11th-ranked Wittenberg University. WU had been ranked number one for seven weeks straight in the AVCA Division III Coaches Top 25 poll before falling to number two this past week.

Junior Amy Brand leads the Bears with 323 kills, 121 blocks and a .337 hitting percentage while senior co-captain Rebecca Rotello has a team-leading 1,249 assists. Rotello is closing in on second place in all-time assists at WU as she is currently third with 4,277 assists, and needs just 34 to take over second place. Rotello also needs just 138 assists to move into the top-25 in NCAA Division III history.

On Friday, WU will take on the University of Rochester at 9 a.m. (EDT), Brandeis University at 11:15 a.m. and New York University at 6 p.m. in Pool A play. On Saturday, the Bears will either play at 9 a.m. or 11:15 a.m. depending on their seeding after pool play.

Courtesy of bearsports.wustl.edu

Annabelle de St. Maurice

Joe Rizzo
Freshman defensive back Joe Rizzo of Washington University registered his second big performance in as many weeks in leading the Bears to a share of the Association title with a 28-14 win at the University of Rochester. Rizzo made six tackles and had a pair of interceptions, setting up a touchdown with the first and a field goal with the second.

Senior setter Rebecca Rotello of Washington University dished out 144 assists, averaging 13.09 per game, as the top-ranked Bears posted a 2-1 record at the Wittenberg University National Quadrangular. Rotello, who registered 62 assists in a five-game win over third-ranked Juniata College, also averaged 2.55 digs, 1.45 kills, and 0.45 blocks per game for the three-match set.