Mariana Parisca | Student Life

Volleyball players Lindsay Juriga (left) and Allison Zastrow distribute roses during halftime of volleyball’s “Dig for Pink” night, which raised donations to fight breast cancer. Volleyball had a 2-1 weekend in Friday and Saturday games.

While raising awareness and money to fight breast cancer, the No. 9 Washington University women’s volleyball won two matches and lost one in the WU Invitational Friday and Saturday.

The University hosted its second annual Dig for Pink event on Friday, raising over $1,500, and the Bears defeated the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in straight sets. The next day, they rallied for a five-set victory against Millikin University and lost a five-set heartbreaker to No. 6 Elmhurst College.

In the pregame ceremony before the Friday match between Wash. U. and Wisconsin Eau-Claire, a moment of silence honored those who have lost their lives to cancer. During introductions, each player on the Bears threw a soft pink ball into the crowd. The spectators seemed to love it as many began to show off their souvenirs.

In addition, donations for free mammograms to underprivileged women at the medical school’s Siteman Cancer Center were collected at a stand next to the court. Proceeds from the sale of T-shirts and raffle tickets were also donated. Between the second and third sets, sophomore Allison Zastrow and junior Lindsay Juriga distributed roses to honorary breast cancer survivors in attendance.

In the match, the Bears were led by freshman middle hitter Caroline Dupont, who had 13 kills with only one attack error. Senior Meghan Byrne, an outside hitter who had eight kills to go along with six digs, credited the crowd for bringing so much energy.

“It’s so much fun to play in front of an awesome crowd like this,” Byrne said. “We were just trying to put on a show for everyone, and we had a blast doing it.”

Head coach Luke Young lauded his team’s performance.

“We were able to connect with our middles pretty well in transition, which was something we came into the game thinking about,” he said. “It was a nice win, and we were really focused on winning in three.”

The “Dig for Pink” theme also had special significance to Young, whose grandmother beat cancer just a few years back.

“I think it’s tremendous. [Cancer] really does involve almost every family in some way at some point in time,” he said. “There are a couple survival stories on the team. We want to look at it as a celebration of life.”

Byrne also commented that the “Dig for Pink” night provided an extra incentive to give all her effort.

“It’s for such a great cause, and it’s such a fun event,” she said. “Just a great night overall.”

Saturday, however, brought both ups and downs. After dropping the first two sets to unranked Millikin, the Bears recovered behind freshman outside hitter Alex Sheredy (18 kills) and sophomore middle hitter Jackie Nelligan (17 kills), the latter of whom was named to the all-tournament team. Their .412 team attack percentage in the fourth and fifth sets propelled the come-from-behind win. Freshman libero Kalehua Katagiri led the team with 16 digs in the match and 52 in the tournament, and she came away with all-tournament honors.

Despite the win, the Bears lost Byrne to a knee injury during the match, and she did not return for the rest of the day.

“She landed against the pole and has some kind of a knee injury that we’ll learn more about on Monday,” Young said. “We’re mostly playing it safe. She was cleared to play, but it wasn’t 100 percent clearance, and I want her to finish her season rather than risk a worse injury.”

In the afternoon match, Elmhurst took a 2-1 lead before Wash. U. won the fourth set, paving the way for a tiebreaking fifth set. The Bears got off to a fast 5-0 start, but Elmhurst came back and tied the score at 12. Wash. U. came away with two points and looked to seal the victory. However, Elmhurst answered with three straight points to take a 15-14 lead and eventually pulled out an 18-16 win.

“We learned a lot in this game and we played with a lot of confidence, which is something we’re trying to work on,” Nelligan said. “Right now, we’re just trying to take this and run with it and get better from here.”

Nelligan and Young agreed that sophomores Zastrow and Nkiru Udenze filled in admirably for the injured Byrne.

“The way we responded is some people that had not been in the starting lineup at all this season…came out and really, really performed well,” Young said. “It gave us confidence knowing we’re going to be able to be creative with our lineups at times, and it is going to pay off for us.”