Volleyball Upset by No. 9 Carthage in Regional Championship to End Season

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St. Louis, Mo., November 13, 2011 – The No. 2 ranked Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team saw its season come to an end when No. 9 Carthage College rallied from a 0-2 deficit to beat the Bears 20-25, 12-25, 25-23, 25-22, 15-11 in the 2011 NCAA Division III St. Louis Regional Championship match Sunday afternoon at the WU Field House in St. Louis, Mo.

The Bears ended their season with a 34-2 record. Carthage improved to 33-6, and advanced to the 2011 NCAA Championship to be held Friday-Sunday, Nov. 18-20, at the WU Field House.

“After winning the first two sets, we talked about how Carthage was not going to let its season end without a fight,” said Washington University interim coach Lisa Orlet. “They are a well-coached team. We did well to come back in the third set, but we made some errors and didn’t force them to earn points. It’s tough to play against a team that has nothing to lose and Carthage played aggressively like they had nothing to lose.”

The first set was a back-and-forth battle before Washington U. opened up a 20-16 lead on a kill by junior Drew Hargrave. Carthage cut the lead to 21-19, but the Bears got to set point with kills by senior Lauren Budde and sophomore Meghan Byrne, and a setting error by the Lady Reds. Byrne hit a ball off the block to give Washington U. the 25-20 win in the first set.

The Bears held a 12-8 lead in the second set before going on a 7-1 run that included a pair of kills by Hargrave and back-to-back double blocks. Carthage got to within 20-12, before back-to-back kills by Byrne, a kill by Budde and back-to-back attacking errors by Carthage gave Washington U. the 2-0 lead in the match. The Bears held Carthage to -.097 hitting in the second set.

Carthage came out fired up in the third set to jump out to a 6-1 lead. The Bears cut the deficit to three at 9-6 after back-to-back kills by Hargrave, but Carthage stretched the lead to as much as 17-11. Washington U. rallied with a 7-1 run to tie the match at 18 apiece. The rally included three kills by Hargrave and two by Budde. Carthage answered with three straight kills to force the Bears to call a timeout. Washington U. tied the score again at 23-23 on a kill by Byrne, but the Lady Reds scored back-to-back points to win the set 25-23.

Washington U. started strong in the fourth set, grabbing an 8-2 lead after a solo block by Budde. Carthage rallied to within 14-13 before four straight errors by the Lady Reds gave Washington U. an 18-14 lead. Carthage rallied to tie the score at 19-19. The Bears took a 21-20 lead after Byrne tooled the block for a kill. The Lady Reds answered with four straight points to have a set-point opportunity. Sophomore Kaia Schwartz hammered a kill to make it 22-24 before a Carthage kill forced the fifth set.

In the final set, the Bears took a 3-1 lead after back-to-back kills by Budde and a setter dump by junior Marilee Fisher. Carthage went on a 10-4 run to take an 11-7 lead. Back-to-back attacking errors by the Lady Reds brought Washington U. to within two, but Carthage scored the next two points to stretch the lead back to four at 13-9. A blocking error by Carthage and a kill by Budde made it 13-11, but the Lady Reds scored two straight points to earn the win.

The Bears out-hit Carthage .206 to .126 in the match, but the Lady Reds had six ace serves in the match to just one for Washington U. Carthage also finished with nine blocks, compared to six for the Bears.

Budde tallied a match-high 18 kills and added 13 digs for the double-double. Byrne (16), Hargrave (12), and Schwartz (10) also finished with double-double kills in the match. Fisher posted a season-high 58 assists, while also recording 14 digs. Fisher and Budde were both selected to the All-Region team as well. Junior Kelly Pang set a Washington U. NCAA tournament record with 35 digs, including 19 in the second and third sets combined. Senior Tricia Brandt and junior Meg Buker also finished with double-digit digs with 15 and 10, respectively.

Bear Notebook: Budde moved into ninth on Washington U.’s all-time career kills list, finishing her career with 1,312 to pass Katie Quinn … The win was Carthage’s first ever over Washington U., who leads the all-time series between the two teams 6-1 … The Bears ended the season with a 24-1 record at home.

2011 NCAA Division III Volleyball St. Louis Regional All-Tournament Team

Michelle Madeja - Carthage College **Most Outstanding Player**

Lauren Budde - Washington University

Cindy Cavanagh - Carthage College

Nikki DelZenero - University of Chicago

Lauren Dembkowski - Carthage College

Marilee Fisher - Washington University

Antoneya Veasy Smith - Elmhurst College