Senior Karen Gao and first-year Eleanor Archer celebrate a doubles point for No. 9 women’s tennis. (Bri Nitsberg | Student Life)

This week, Washington University athletics built off their success from the beginning of April. Softball won a key series against a strong University Athletic Association (UAA) rival and national Top 10 team, while both men’s and women’s track and field placed first in competition. Here’s everything you need to know about Bears’ athletics from the week of April 8-14. 

Softball

Bears softball took three games out of four against Case Western Reserve University, the No. 6 team in the country. After dropping the first game of the series 3-1, WashU won the final three games by scores of 5-2, 3-0, and 3-1, respectively. First-year Maria Brooks and junior Jamie Burgasser continued their strong seasons on the pitcher’s mound, tossing complete games in two of the Bears’ wins. With a 9-3 conference record, WashU is now tied with Case Western for first place in the UAA. The Bears will travel to Carnegie Mellon University April 19 for a four-game series against a solid Tartans team.

Track and Field

Both No. 1 women’s and No. 21 men’s track and field won their respective meets at Greenville University this weekend. Senior Emma Kelley lowered her own school record for the women’s 400-meter event, and WashU won the top four places in the women’s 200-meter dash. Additionally, some distance runners on both the teams competed in the Wisconsin-Platteville Invite. Senior Alexandra Blake set a school record in the 5,000-meter event with a time of 16:46.39, placing ninth in the competition. The teams will travel to Augustana University for the Augustana Meet of Champions on April 19 and 20, their final tune-up before the UAA Outdoor Championships on April 27 and 28.

Women’s Tennis

No. 9 Women’s tennis opened their weekend series with a victory over No. 24 Denison University, who they also defeated April 6 at the Madison Invitational. On Senior Day, however, they lost to No. 5 University of Chicago 6-3. Women’s tennis will next play next weekend against No. 27 Grinnell College and the unranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in their final matches before the UAA Championships. 

Men’s Tennis

In a Monday contest against Principia College, men’s tennis won 8-1 on Senior Day. However, the rest of the week, the Bears continued to struggle against ranked opponents. The Bears fell to No. 14 Denison 7-2 on Friday, before losing to UAA rival and No. 3 Chicago 6-3 on Saturday. The Bears, who are ranked in the national Top 10, have now lost their last five matches against Top 15 opponents. They will look to bounce back against McKendree University on April 22 before the UAA Championships April 25-27.

Baseball

Bears baseball was swept by Emory University this weekend, losing three out of four games and tying one. WashU’s pitching struggled for yet another weekend, giving up 47 runs to the Emory offense. WashU also picked up a midweek 4-3 victory over Rose-Hulman on Tuesday. The Bears, who fell to fourth in the UAA with a 3-4-1 conference record, will travel to face Brandeis University, who is 0-7 in conference play, for a must-win series next weekend.  

Men’s Soccer

Bears men’s soccer played an exhibition game at Saint Louis University in honor of former head coach Joe Clarke on Saturday. Clarke, who retired after the 2023 season, coached the Billikens before spending the next 27 years coaching the Bears. In Andrew Bordelon’s coaching debut with WashU, the Bears fell 2-0 to the Division I squad.