Bears Advance to UAA Title Match With Wins Over Carnegie and #16 Chicago

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New York, N.Y., November 4, 2011 – The No. 3 ranked Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team advanced to the 2011 University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship match with a pair of sweeps over Carnegie Mellon University and No. 16 University of Chicago on Friday afternoon in New York, N.Y.

Washington University (31-1, 8-1 UAA) opened the day with a 25-10, 25-13, 25-19 win over Carnegie Mellon, and then followed with a 25-15, 25-20, 25-11 win over Chicago in the nightcap. The Bears will take on No. 2 Emory University on Saturday at 1 p.m. (ET) in the finals. Emory ousted Brandeis University (25-22, 25-18, 25-11) and Case Western Reserve University (25-18, 25-15, 25-16) in its two matches on Friday.

Senior Lauren Budde recorded a game-high 12 kills and hit .400 (12-2-25) in the opening round win against Carnegie Mellon. Sophomore Kaia Schwartz added nine kills and hit .667 (9-1-12), while sophomore Meghan Byrne had eight kills and eight digs. Washington U. hit .351 (46-12-97) in the victory, and limited CMU to a .097 (24-15-93) clip.

Washington U. hit a blistering .415 (43-9-82) in the straight-set win over Chicago. Junior Drew Hargrave (12-2-24, .417) and Budde (11-2-16, .562)) each recorded double figures kill in the win, Washington U.’s seventh straight. With 23 kills on Friday, Budde moved past Chris Becker (1984-87) into 10th place on the all-time WUSTL list with 1,252.

Junior Marilee Fisher dished out 34 assists in the win against Chicago, and eclipsed 1,000 assists for the third-straight season. Fisher has recorded 3,329 career assists, which is sixth on the all-time list. Junior Kelly Pang added 14 digs and now has 1,753 for her career, second most in school history.

Washington University is 275-11 (.962) all-time in UAA play, and will be vying for its conference-record 20th UAA title. Emory and Washington U. are facing off in the UAA title match for the eighth-straight year and for the 13th time in school history. The Eagles have won the last two UAA titles, and have defeated Washington U. three-straight times dating back to last season.

Bear Notebook: Washington University has won 29 of its 32 matches played this season by a 3-0 mark, and have won 95 of 100 sets played in 2011.