ATLANTA - Top-ranked Washington University defeated Rochester, 3-0, in the quarterfinal round of the University Athletic Association women's volleyball championships at Emory University on Friday afternoon.

Two hours later, Rochester booked its spot in the fifth place match with a 3-0 win over Brandeis (25-17, 25-19, 25-21). The Yellowjackets will play Carnegie Mellon University at 10 am Saturday.

The Bears, seeded third in the eight-team field, won, 25-23, 25-19, 25-14. Washington then defeated Chicago in the semifinals and will play host Emory for the championship (and automatic NCAA bid) on Saturday afternoon.

New York University, the tournament's eighth-seed, was forced to withdraw from the competition earlier this week. Damage to the metropolitan area by Hurricane Sandy made it impossible for the Violets to fly out of New York City and impossible to find bus transportation to a nearly locale that had flight service.

NYU's absence automatically put the Case-Carnegie quarterfinal loser into the fifth place match. By virtue of its loss to Rochester, Brandeis finishes seventh in the championships.

Rochester hung with Washington throughout the first set. The Bears built an 8-3 lead early before an ace and two kills by Kelly Mulrey sparked a 6-1 run that evened the score at 9-9. Washington edged ahead again, building its lead to 21-16. Rochester took advantage of two service errors and an attack error to get within 22-21. The Yellowjackets tied it at 23-23 on back to back kills by Alma Guevara. Washington won the match on a service error by Rochester and an attack error.

The Yellowjackets did not hit the ball well in the second set (.023) and Washington broke away from a 9-all tie to build, and then maintain a lead. The third set was tied at 11-11 (Xiaoyi Li passed to Savannah Benton for a kill) before a 12-2 rip by Washington put the Bears in control.

Statistically for Rochester, Guevara had 11 kills and Mulrey had eight. Lauren Bujnicki had 13 digs and Mulrey had eight. Li had 23 assists. Mulrey added three service aces. Mulrey, Li, and Meghan Neff had two total blocks each.

Against Brandeis, Mulrey had 11 kills and 13 digs. Benton had 10 kills and Guevara had 11. Li dished 31 assists and had three service aces. Bujnicki had 15 digs and Ribakove had 11. Rochester is 22-11 with one match left.