The UAA conference was truly mauled this weekend by the Bears.

In the second portion of the UAA Round Robin volleyball tournament, held at Brandeis University, top-ranked Washington University rolled past four teams to push its record to 25-0.

The only team to even win a game against the Bears was Emory, WU’s final opponent of the weekend, and the second-ranked team in the UAA. Still, the Bears showed how far ahead of the conference they are by defeating Emory 3-1. WU has never lost to Emory and is now a staggering 177-3 all-time in UAA play.

“The most competitive teams we play are not in the UAA, so honestly, we have very high expectations for our matches against the conference teams,” said sophomore Colleen Winter.

Indeed, the Bears won 21 of 22 games in the UAA tournament, which also includes the first portion held at Emory in September. Sweeping the Round Robin also makes WU the top seed for the UAA Championship Tournament to be played on November 3rd.

Obviously, the team was satisfied with their performance.

“We really picked up the intensity of our play. Sometimes, when we play against less competitive teams, we play down to their level,” said Winter. “However, this weekend, we worked on maintaining our enthusiasm and playing our game speed.”

The Bears’ intensity showed on Saturday when they picked apart Carnegie Mellon and hapless Case Western Reserve University. There is no doubt that the team expected to win, but the Bears can be lauded for taking all six games and going into shutdown mode on the defense end.

WU allowed Case to score an average of only 15 points per game. They also managed to hold Carnegie Mellon’s Lauren Schmidt, the reigning UAA Player of the Year, to just nine kills. The Bears’ service game was also in high gear, recording 19 aces against Case Western Reserve.

On Sunday, the match-ups were a little tougher as both of the Bears’ opponents were ranked in the top half of the conference. Still, the team had little trouble taking their two matches with plenty of room to breathe.

Before the victory over Emory, WU defeated New York University 30-21, 30-23, 30-20. Junior Katie Quinn led the team with 12 kills, while senior Rebecca Rotello added 35 assists.

All systems remained go against Emory, who came in with a 6-0 record in UAA play. The Bears did lose a close game, 28-30, but held Emory in check for the rest of the match, showing themselves to be the unquestioned top dog in the conference. Quinn came up big again, compiling 16 kills and adding 4 blocks. Winter also helped keep several points alive for WU, totaling 21 digs in the match.

With their conference tune-ups out of the way, the Bears can now focus on looking for ways to prepare for their forthcoming championship run.

“There is always room for improvement,” said Winter. “I know that we are still not playing to our full potential, but we are playing more as a team now and with more intensity than we have this whole year.”
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Anatomy of a winning streak:

Date Opponent/Tournament Victories

8/30 Colorado College 4
Pikes Peak Challenge

9/6 Washington University 4
Classic

9/13 Washington University 4 National Invitational

9/18 Augustana College (Ill) 1

9/21 UAA Round Robin Part 1 3

9/25 Fontbonne College 1

10/4 Simpson College Invitational 4

10/12 UAA Round Robin Part 2 4

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