It was a full weekend for Washington University athletics. From conference competition to regional competitions, the Bears were active both at home and around the country.

Tennis

Three Bears played into the deep rounds of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Central Regional Championships this weekend in Kalamazoo.
Junior Daniel Li battled all the way to the singles division semi-finals. He fell to eventual champion freshman James Hopper of Case Western Reserve University in straight sets. Hopper had previously defeated Wash. U. junior Ethan Hillis, the first seeded player in the tournament. Hopper was also half of the Case Western team that topped senior Bernardo Neves and junior Benjamin van der Sman in the doubles semifinals, along with his partner Matthew Chen.

Other Bears also had solid runs in the tournament. Senior J.J. Kroot and sophomore Luke Smith reached the quarterfinals of doubles, Neves fell in his round of 16 match and van der Sman upset the No. 4 seed, Erik Kerrigan, of the University of Chicago in the round of 16 before being defeated by Chen in quarterfinals.

Wash. U. will open their 2020 spring season against Division I Butler University in January.

Cross Country

Senior Paige Lawler finished first with a time of 22.41.2 as the women’s cross-country team won the Dan Huston Invitational at Wartburg College. The men’s cross-country team placed second.

The women earned just 34 points, beating second-place Wartburg (61 points) handily. Junior Megan Girmscheid placed sixth after completing the 6K course in 23.31.0. Freshman Ella Behrens and sophomores Gabby McGinn and Sophie Young placed eighth, ninth and 10th respectively.

On the men’s side, Wartburg edged out the Bears by two points, 39-37. Seniors Marco Quaroni and Nick Matteucci placed third and fourth for the men. Quaroni and Matteucci finished the race less than two seconds apart, as Quaroni passed the finish line with 26:24:0 elapsed and Matteucci finished after 26:25.6. Senior Jack Sebok finished ninth with a time of 26.36.0.

Volleyball

Volleyball faced tough competition and varied success at this fall’s second UAA Round Robin tournament this Sunday at Emory University in Atlanta, GA.

The Red and Green started the day off against No. 1 Emory University. Wash. U. lost the first two sets, 25-12 and 25-18. Senior Leila King and freshman Alaina Bohrer had critical blocks in the third set which allowed the Bears to gain momentum and come out with a 25-12 victory. The third set also saw Wash. U. improve its hitting percentage from 0.100 to 0.318, but their momentum could not be held, as Emory came back to win the last set, 25-21.

“I think that Leila King and Tricia Brown played consistently well against Emory,” head coach Vanessa Walby said in an email, adding that “both being great leaders and working the game plan.” Brown had six kills and nine digs in the match.

Bohrer led the Red and Green with 12 points throughout the match and had an impressive kill percentage of 0.364. On the defensive side, senior Zoe Baxter had an impressive outing, totaling 12 digs and four service aces.

After the loss against Emory, Wash. U. swiftly dominated University of Rochester 3-0 in the afternoon. The Bears started with an impressive first set, only allowing the Yellowjackets 14 points to end the set with a score of 25-14. The Bears continued their sharp play with a victory in the second set of 25-22 before coming from behind in the third set to win, 25-16, and secure the match sweep.

“It was awesome against Rochester that we were able to play a lot of players and develop our program more,” Walby said.

Sophomore Michaela Bach finished the match with an impressive 12 points, including 10 kills and six digs, as well as a kill percentage of 0.333. Sophomore Caitlin Lorenz finished with 11.5 points and a kill percentage of 0.667, while junior Kirby Knapp and sophomore Samantha Kaiser had 11 assists each to contribute to the win.

The team now looks forward to hosting the Baden Invite on Oct. 11-12 at the Field House. The Bears will face University of Dallas at 7 p.m. on Friday. Saturday will bring Lakeland University at 12 p.m. and Monmouth College at 2 p.m.

“[It] should be awesome volleyball all weekend,” Walby said.