While students lament the lack of competition with Division I opponents, the Washington University women’s club volleyball team has been proactive in its approach.

In the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association Collegiate Volleyball Club Championships, WU competed against the heavy hitters of the sport, triumphing over clubs from schools such as Michigan, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Texas A&M before bowing out to eventual champion Texas in the semifinals.

The event, held April 10-12, landed WU a season-ending No. 3 ranking in the sport’s toughest division, Division I.

“What’s really neat about finishing third in Nationals is that most of the teams that we played have a pool of like sixty thousand people to pick from,” Briana Morgan said. “We have like six thousand, so that’s great that we did so well.”

Thanks to the strong performance, the squad placed two seniors on the All-Tournament team: Holly Davidson on the first team and Annie Carey on the second team. Quyen Le earned an honorable mention.

The team has come a long way in the past five years. In 1999, one season before the current seniors showed up on the Hilltop, Peter Dore took over as coach just one month before the national tournament. Although they finished near the bottom that season, the foundation for a fruitful future was set; now the club boasts four consecutive top-10 finishes.

“He is an amazing coach, and we have learned so much from him,” former club president Annie Carey said. “Every year we get so much better just because of the knowledge he gives us about volleyball, and the ability he has to motivate us to work harder every practice.”

Thanks to a lineup loaded with talent and experience, the squad has improved every year. This is mainly attributable to the fact that there are eight seniors on the team, and that the team possesses unusual height.

“We are probably the strongest blocking teams in the country,” Carey said. “With five girls that are 5’11″ or taller, it’s pretty tough to hit around us.”

Sustained success is hard to come by for any club sport, and women’s volleyball is no different. One difficulty is coming up with travel expenses for the trip to the Championships in Columbus, OH.

“The team is part of the Sports Federation Club, so we have to fundraise our money,” Adonna Oparanozie said. “It’s very difficult.”

In other ways, the team gets a lot of help from the varsity volleyball Bears.

“We are not directly affiliated with the varsity team, but we have a few former varsity players,” Carey said. “We have a great relationship with their coach. Rich [Luenemann] often gives us their old equipment, which definitely helps us out.”

Although the team is not at the same level as their varsity counterparts, the time commitment often makes participants wonder about the team’s club status. The team may lack the structure of the varsity squad, but the players scoff at the notion that they don’t face stiff competition.

“What’s good about club volleyball is that it’s not as intense as the varsity sport, but it’s still competitive,” Morgan said. “It may be even more competitive because we know that we all want to play together.”

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