Volleyball Finishes Bears Classic with 4-0 Record; Names Three to All-Tournament Team

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St. Louis, Mo., September 4, 2011 – The No. 3 Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team kept its perfect record intact with 3-0 wins over the University of Texas-Dallas (25-14, 25-12, 25-17) and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (25-14, 25-13, 25-12) to conclude the Bears Classic on Sunday at the Washington University Field House in St. Louis, Mo.

Washington U. finished the two-day tournament with an unblemished 4-0 match record and 12-0 in sets played. The Bears have yet to drop a set or allow an opponent to reach 20 points through six matches so far this season.
Washington University placed three student-athletes on the Bears Classic All-Tournament Team: junior setter Marilee Fisher, junior libero Kelly Pang and sophomore middle hitter Kaia Schwartz.

Fisher did an excellent job running the Bears’ offense, averaging 12.1 assists per set over the weekend, compiling 121 assists to go along with 10 kills, 18 digs and five aces. Pang led the team with 49 digs, an average of 4.08 per set, while serving up six aces. Her season-high of 15 digs came in Washington University’s 3-0 win over DePauw on Saturday night.

Schwartz was dominant in the middle for the Red and Green, hitting .457 with 19 kills, in addition to blocking down a team-high 12 attacks, including seven solo blocks for an average of 1.09 blocks per set.

Junior outside hitter Drew Hargrave was the star in Washington University’s 3-0 win over Texas-Dallas on Sunday morning, finishing the match with a team-high 14 kills while attacking a blistering .565. She had six kills in both the second and third sets and recorded just one hitting error in the match.

The Bears won two of the three sets over Dallas by double-digits and had four hitters register at least five kills. Schwartz converted seven of her eight attacks for points to hit .875, also finishing with three solo blocks.

Sophomore Megan Odenthal tallied six kills on the right side (6-1-12), senior middle hitter Lauren Budde had seven kills (7-1-12) and 11 digs and sophomore outside Meghan Byrne had five kills (5-1-7), all in the third set.

Byrne and Budde each finished 11 kills in the sweep of Rose-Hulman, hitting .381 and .333 respectively. Fisher had 28 assists in just two sets, averaging 14 assists per set, and senior defensive specialist Tricia Brandt notched a season-high 13 digs.

Washington University (6-0) returns to action next Friday-Saturday, when it will host the WU/Asics National Invitational Tournament at the Washington University Field House in St. Louis, Mo.

The National Invitational, which traditionally showcases some of the top-ranked NCAA Division III teams in the nation, will feature Ohio Northern University, No. 11 Carthage College, No. 24 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and No. 4 Christopher Newport University.

The Bears will open the tournament on Friday against Ohio Northern University at 5:30 p.m., and No. 11 Carthage College at 8 p.m. Both matches will be broadcast live at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/wustl.portal