While fall break provided Washington University students a brief reprieve from midterms and schoolwork, there was no rest for members of the football, volleyball, soccer and cross-country teams, who continued action through the weekend. With the playoffs inching ever closer, here’s a look at how each team did over break.

Football

The football team kept rolling, holding Sewanee: The University of the South to two field goals en route to a 34-6 victory at Francis Field Saturday. Senior quarterback J.J. Tomlin led the Bears’ offense to the tune of 368 yards and four touchdowns, including a pair to his favorite target, senior wide receiver Kevin Hammarlund, who hauled in 100-plus yards for the third consecutive contest. The Red and Green running game continued to be notably Red and Green; over its last five games, Wash. U. has alternated performances of sub-100 yards and 200-plus yards on the ground. In this week’s iteration, the Bears rushed just 19 times, for 73 yards on the ground. With a four-game winning streak going into Jackson, Miss., Wash. U. had a potential trap game against 2-4 Millsaps College before taking on 6-0 Case Western Reserve University in a University Athletic Association (UAA) showdown in St. Louis on Oct. 29.

Volleyball

After an otherwise successful second UAA round robin of the season, the No. 16 volleyball team was ousted 3-1 by longtime rival No. 5 Emory University Sunday at Brandeis University’s Auerbach Arena in Waltham, Mass. The Bears started with the weekend with a trio of 3-0 sweeps over Case Western, the University of Rochester and New York University, dropping no more than 22 points in any of the nine sets. Things looked similarly promising early against Emory, with Wash. U. nailing down the first set, 25-23. The Bears came out flat in dropping the second set, however, losing three straight points four times. The Red and Green couldn’t recover, conceding the next two sets for a 3-1 defeat. Wash. U. returns home next weekend for the Active Ankle Invitational, which includes three of four matches against ranked opponents.

Men’s Soccer

After a 4-0 victory against New York University on Friday, No. 10 men’s soccer came back down to Earth with a 2-1 home loss against Brandeis University. The Bears controlled the match in the first half, outshooting the Judges 9 to 5. Twenty-five minutes into the game, however, the Bears failed to convert a penalty kick when senior Nick Politan was fouled inside the box. Freshman Jonathan Garske scored his first career goal in the 40th minute, but the Bears struggled to increase their lead in the second half. A lapse in the defense allowed the visitors to score twice in the span of two minutes. The Bears failed to find their equalizer for the rest of the game; with the loss, the Bears drop to 1-2-1 in conference play. They will play their final match of the four-game home series against Principia College on Thursday, Oct. 20.

Women’s Soccer

The No. 15 women’s soccer team upset No. 8 Brandeis University with a 2-0 beat down. Despite the modest final score, the Bears outshot the Judges 32 to 3, with a whopping 18 shots on goal. The Bears converted early in the 15th minute. Junior Mia Mastroianni scored the first goal of her career off an assist from sophomore Darcy Cunningham. In the 65th minute, senior Megan Renken settled a cross from junior Gillian Myers in the box and doubled the lead with a shot on her left foot. The goal was Renken’s third of the season. The Bears forced the Brandeis goalkeeper to make 15 saves just to keep the score close. Up next, Wash. U. faces off against Principia, on Thursday, Oct. 20.

Cross-country

In their final tune-up before the conference championships in a week and a half, the men’s and women’s cross-country teams took home fourth and first, respectively, at the Kollege Town Sports Cross Country Invitational at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Junior Aly Wayne pulled down the best time for the Bears, finishing second overall, with a time of 21:27 in the six-kilometer race. Fellow junior Alison Lindsay also finished in the top 10, 26 seconds behind Wayne at 21:53. Sophomore Ellie Degen (14th, 22:25), senior Annie Marggraff (34th, 22:54) and senior Kimberly Johnson (37th, 22:58) rounded off the top five for the Wash. U. women. They finished with 94 points, a total of 19 points ahead of runner-up Calvin College. For the men, junior David O’Gara had a ninth place finish in the men’s 8K, with a time of 25:14. Behind him finished sophomore Peter Johnsrud (26th, 25:46), freshman Nick Matteucci (33rd, 25:57), senior Dillon Williams (34th, 25:59) and senior Brody Roush (39th, 26:01). All five top runners for the Bears finished within a minute of one another. The men finished with 141 points, over a hundred behind first place North Central College, who ran the table with five runners in the top five. The Oshkosh Open serves as a good warm up for the fast approaching conference meet. Of the 41 women’s teams in the invite, eight ranked in the top 35 nationally. Of the 42 men’s teams, nine rank in the top 35.