Volleyball advances to the Elite Eight of NCAA tournament

Lily Wu | Contributing Reporter

When the third bump pushed the ball lazily over the net, senior Rexi Sheredy had time to position herself. She peeled away from the net and stepped backward to the edge of the court. When the ball left freshman setter Chloe Stile’s hands, she was ready. Sheredy closed in on the left side of the neat, leaped and hammered a crosscourt kill past the lone blocker and off a sliding University of Wisconsin-Whitewater player, where it soared into the corner of the gym.

Sheredy crouched and bounded over to her teammates at center court to celebrate the victory. The No. 16 Bears defeated the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in four sets, 24-26, 25-15, 25-21, 25-10 Saturday night in Whitewater to advance to the NCAA tournament Elite Eight for the first time since 2010. It was an unusually long drought for the most decorated volleyball program in Division III and one that survived plenty of top-ranked Wash. U. teams over the past five years. So, the fact that it was this team—one that started the season 5-5, one that struggled with consistency and one that is the only Bears team with double-digit losses since 1985—is surprising.

Freshman Shannon Gurley, left, encourages senior Rexi Sheredy in a Nov. 5 game against   the University of Chicago. The Bears won 3-1 to finish in third place in the UAA Championship.

Freshman Shannon Gurley, left, encourages senior Rexi Sheredy in a Nov. 5 game against
the University of Chicago. The Bears won 3-1 to finish in third place in the UAA Championship.

You could chalk it up to the draw. Just looking at the past two years, the Bears lost in the regional finals to No. 5 Emory University in 2014 and No. 9 California Lutheran University—the eventual national champion—in 2015. Whitewater, despite their No. 11 ranking, had several notable losses to lesser teams like Bluffton University, Gustavus Adolphus College and University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

But if you saw how the Warhawks played the Bears early in their first matchup this year, you wouldn’t cry ease of schedule. In the second week of the season, Whitewater completely deconstructed the Bears’ offense in a three-set victory, accumulating 18 block assists and holding the Wash. U. offense to their lowest hitting percentage of the season by nearly 60 points. In that game, offensive stalwarts, sophomore outside hitter Ifeoma Ufondu and senior Caroline Dupont, combined for 13 kills. On Saturday, that number was 30. The rest of the Bears followed suit in the regional finals, hitting 0.366 as a team on their way to the four-set victory.

The Bears will travel to Oshkosh, Wis. for the tournament’s final weekend to face No. 14 University of Mary Washington in the NCAA quarterfinal Thursday.

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