Sophomore Meghan Byrne competes against Webster University on Wednesday, Oct. 26. In addition to their 3-0 victory against Webster, the Bears defeated all four of their other rivals on Oct. 28 and 29 to capture the Halloween Classic title.

The No. 3 Bears took the 2011 Halloween Classic, sweeping all four teams it faced—Concordia University and No. 4 Eastern University on Friday, and Hanover College and College of Mount St. Joseph on Saturday.

Along with a 3-0 win over Webster University on Wednesday evening, the Bears have strung together five straight 3-0 victories after suffering their first loss of the season, a 3-2 defeat at the hands of rival Emory University, on Oct. 16.

“It was really important,” junior Kelly Pang said of bouncing back. “Obviously, it was a tough loss, and it slowed us down a little bit, but I feel like we’re kind of picking up some speed, getting our momentum back and hanging tough.”

The highlight of the weekend, for multiple reasons, was the Bears’ 3-0 (25-18, 27-25, 25-23) victory over Eastern, which came into the match with a record of 28-1. Against one of its strongest opponents of the season, Wash. U. was up to the task offensively and defensively.

The team hit .346 on the match, capped by a third set in which it tallied 20 kills and only four errors on 37 attempts—good for a .432 hitting percentage. Its efforts were headed by junior Drew Hargrave (13 kills) and seniors Lauren Budde and Kristen Thomas (10 kills each), and they were set by junior Marilee Fisher’s 45 assists.

The team’s back row shined as well, as Pang’s 20 digs were a team high out of 53 total digs in the match. Budde tallied 10, and senior Tricia Brandt had eight.

The efforts from all sides of the court allowed Wash. U. to survive two close sets in the second and third sets and to give the Bears one of their bigger wins of the season.

“It was great to have another challenge so close to the previous loss, to see if we thought we were able to win in three, and it was just a great confidence builder for us,” Pang said.

The game also took place on the team’s Senior Night, and the squad’s four seniors—Budde, Brandt, Thomas and Brittany Mikottis—were honored before the match. The team’s Class of 2012 has compiled a record of 130-16 over the past four seasons to go with a UAA Championship in 2009 and a national championship in 2009.

“It’s been awesome,” Budde said of the last four seasons. “It’s a great culture on and off the floor in terms of relationships with the girls. Not only do we play together, we’re best friends, and we do a lot of things off the court, and I think that translates to our good chemistry on the court.”

The team’s other three matches of the weekend did not provide as much of a challenge, as the Bears never allowed more than 19 points in any set against Concordia (25-13, 25-11, 25-15), Hanover (25-18, 25-19, 25-18), or Mount St. Joseph (25-15, 25-16, 25-11).

For the weekend, Budde’s 48 kills were a team-high, as were Fisher’s 143 assists and Pang’s 70 digs.

“I think it’s great that we ended our regular season play on such a great note, and now in doing so well, obviously we know the little things that we need to work on next week in terms of getting better before conference and before regionals,” Budde said.

Brandt (32 digs) and sophomores Meghan Byrne (41 kills, .413 hitting percentage) and Kaia Schwartz (22 kills, 7 blocks, .463 hitting) were named to the all-tournament team.

The Bears will head on the road next weekend to New York, N.Y., for the University Athletic Association championship and will begin play on Friday against Carnegie Mellon University.

While there is a good chance that Wash. U. will get a chance to exact revenge on Emory, the team continues to prepare for everything the weekend can bring.

“Next weekend is a brand new season. We need to take it as one game at a time, one point at a time,” Budde said. “Everybody’s going to be out to get us, just like teams have been all year. We have to bring our ‘A’ game, every game, every point.

Wash. U. and CMU will face off at noon EST on Friday.