(Updated): Hobbled #1 Wash U goes down … twice

Washington, the unanimous No. 1 team in the country and last D-III unbeaten, lost in five sets to No. 23 NYU and in four sets to Case today at the second UAA round robin in Boston. Red-hot NYU (25-3) also swept No. 17 Chicago this weekend. Wash U falls to 23-2. Case beat Wash U for the first time and now trails the all-time series, 35-1.

The Bears’ first loss created a three-way tie for first in the UAA among NYU, Wash U and Emory with each team playing their last UAA round robin match as I typed: Emory vs. Chicago (Emory won, 3-1) Wash U vs. Case (Case won, 3-1) NYU vs. Rochester (NYU won, 3-0) Chicago beat Mellon in five this morning

Today’s results mean Emory is the UAA regular season champion due to EU’s win over NYU on Oct. 2. Emory and NYU will be the top seeds in their respective UAA pools in the November pool play and crossovers that determine the Pool A bid. Wash U should be the No. 2 seed in NYU’s pool.

Wash U played Sunday without two sophomore All-Americans – setter Marilee Fisher and libero Kelly Pang – and outside Lauren Budde, the team’s leading hitter, blocker and serve receiver.

-Ricky Nelson