Volleyball Clinches Top-Seed in UAA with Two Wins on Sunday

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New York, N.Y., October, 18, 2009 – The Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team wrapped up University Athletic Association (UAA) regular season action with a perfect 7-0 record following a 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-19) win over the University of Chicago and a 3-2 (22-25, 25-21, 24-26, 25-21, 15-8) come from behind victory against Carnegie Mellon University on Sunday at the Coles Sports Center in New York, N.Y.

Washington U. has clinched the No. 1 seed in the 2009 UAA Championship tournament, which will be held Friday-Saturday, Nov. 6-7, in Chicago, Ill. The Bears are the defending UAA Champions, defeating Emory University, 3-2, in last year’s championship match in St. Louis, Mo.

The Bears overcame a number of unforced errors to earn the sweep over Chicago on Sunday morning. However, the match did not begin that way as Washington U. opened a large lead over Chicago in the first set before committing attack errors on four of its final six attack attempts of the frame. Senior middle hitter Erin Albers and sophomore middle hitter Lauren Budde paced the Red and Green with four kills apiece in the opening set, when the Bears hit a match-high .286.

The second set went down to the wire, with Washington U. needing to come from behind late in the set to secure the win. Trailing, 21-20, junior Marya Kaminski converted her fourth kill of the second set to knot the score, and two-straight kills from sophomore Kristen Thomas moments later put Washington U. back in front, 23-22, and a spike from Albers clinched the win.

Albers turned in a solid performance again in the third set, when she tallied four kills with no errors. She finished the match with a team-high nine kills while hitting .400, with two block assists. Thomas finished with seven kills, hitting .294. As a team Washington U. attacked .222.

Washington U. dropped two of the first three sets with Carnegie Mellon, needing to take two straight to preserve its undefeated conference record. Albers (six kills) and freshman libero Kelly Pang (12 digs) paced the Red and Green to a 25-21 win in the fourth set, and Albers played a significant role in their fifth-set win.

Carnegie turned the pressure on early in the fifth, jumping ahead 4-1 before the Bears used their own 4-1 run to even the score. An ace from Pang resulted in the Bears’ first lead of the fifth, 7-6, and Washington U. extended that advantage with a kill from Budde and combined block from Albers and Kaminski.

Albers finished the fifth set a perfect 5-for-5 attacking, and it was her final kill that clinched the WU win. She tallied 24 kills in all against Carnegie Mellon, shattering her previous career-high of 17, which she recorded twice, most recently in a 3-1 win over Elmhurst College on Oct. 9. Albers hit a team-best .512 in the win, also blocking down five shots.

Washington U. saw great offensive production from both of its middles against the Tartans, as Budde was also in double figures in kills with 16, hitting .371, in addition to tallying 12 digs and four blocks. Pang finished with 30 digs and freshman setter Marilee Fisher tallied 54 assists to go along with seven digs and four kills. For the weekend, Albers and Budde led Washington U. with 58 and 51 kills respectively, but Albers also had a team-high hitting percentage of .407.

Washington U. (22-3, 7-0 UAA) returns to action on Friday, Oct. 30, when it begins competition in its final regular season tournament of the year, the Bears Classic, held at the WU Field House in St. Louis, Mo. The Bears will face North Park University at 5:15 p.m., and Culver-Stockton College at 7:30 p.m. Prior to the match with Culver-Stockton, Washington U. will honor its two members of the class of 2010 in a Senior Day celebration: Laura Brazeal and Albers.

Washington U. Sweeps No. 3 Emory on Saturday in New York

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New York, N.Y., October, 17, 2009 – Sophomore middle hitter Lauren Budde, the reining America Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III National Player of the Week, recorded 16 kills while hitting .615 to lead the fourth-ranked Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-18) win over No. 3 and defending NCAA Division III champion Emory University, on Saturday, Oct. 17, at the second University Athletic Association (UAA) round robin of the year in New York, N.Y. The Bears went on to pick up a 3-1 (25-15, 21-25, 25-17, 25-19) win over New York University on Saturday afternoon.

Washington University played well in nearly every facet of the game as it picked up its first sweep over Emory since Nov. 4, 2006.  Washington U. hit .302 as a team and had two players record double-digit kills; Budde with 16 and senior middle hitter Erin Albers with 10. Washington U. also had 12 aces against the Eagles and six team blocks.

Albers, freshman libero Kelly Pang and a sharp serving attack propelled WU to a 25-19 win in the first set.  The Bears trailed, 10-8, before utilizing a 4-0 run to turn the tables and regain the lead. An ace from Budde notched the score at 10-10, and WU was back ahead following a kill from Albers.

It was Albers’ fifth kill of the first set that put Washington U. ahead 22-18, forcing Emory to use its second timeout. But the Bears’ momentum was not broken and the set ended as Albers blocked down an attack for the decisive score. In addition to Albers’ five kills and two blocks, Pang ended the first set with nine digs, stifling a number of strong attacks from Emory.

Budde was the story in Washington University’s eight-point second-set win. She accounted for five of the team’s first nine points of the frame as the Red and Green jumped ahead 9-5. A block from Budde and junior Marya Kaminski gave the Bears their largest lead of the match at 11-6, and Washington U. was ahead 15-8 a few plays later.

Down by seven, Emory started to make a move, scoring five of the next six points, but the Eagles never drew closer than three. Budde finished the second frame with seven of the Bears’ 14 kills, and she also tallied two blocks. Washington U. hit .303 as a team.

The Bears opened the third set by taking a small lead, but WU did not pull away until late in the set. Emory actually came back to take a 13-12 lead, their first in any set since they led 10-9 in the first, but Washington University’s Kristen Thomas answered with a kill that sparked a 6-0 WU scoring run, effectively putting the match out of reach. Budde had five kills in the final frame, and freshman Marilee Fisher chipped in with three. Serving played a crucial role in the Bears’ victory, as they served up seven aces in the win, including two each from sophomore defensive specialist Tricia Brandt and Pang.

Washington University was not as sharp offensively against New York as it was in the sweep of Emory, but the Bears were able to pull out a 3-1 win. WU needed just seven kills to pick up a 10-point win in the first set against the Violets, as it tallied two aces, both from Brandt, and six team blocks. The Bears finished the match with 15 team blocks, the most since they recorded 17.5 against Wittenberg University in the 2007 NCAA Division III national semifinal.

New York evened the contest with a 25-21 victory in the second, but the Red and Green used four kills from Budde and freshman Drew Hargrave in addition to a rally that included three-straight blocks for scores to regain the advantage with an eight-point third-set win. New York responded by taking an early 4-0 lead in the fourth, a lead that was not relinquished until WU pulled ahead 15-14 on a Violet attack error.

Albers tallied six of her 15 kills in the fourth set and Budde anchored the team’s defensive efforts with eight digs and a solo block. Budde finished the match with 11 kills and a team-high 27 digs, in addition to six total blocks (three solo, three assisted). Albers hit a team-high .325 in the win, also tallying six total blocks, and Pang (26) and senior Laura Brazeal (12) both finished with double-digit digs.

Washington U. (20-3, 5-0 UAA) concludes the second UAA round robin tournament on Sunday, Oct. 18, in New York, N.Y., when it will face the University of Chicago at 10 a.m. (ET), and Carnegie Mellon University at 12 p.m. (ET).