The Washington University volleyball team began the season Friday with the usual high expectations, arriving at the Elmhurst Invitational armed with the No. 1 pre-season ranking and a mission to return to the NCAA title game.
The Bears lived up to their ranking for the most part, earning a share of the tournament title with host Elmhurst and Wisconsin-Oshkosh. The only blemish in their 3-1 record was a tough loss to No. 10 Elmhurst on Saturday in a match that went the full five games.
The two teams were very evenly matched, splitting the first two games 27-30 and 30-28. After the Blue Jays took command with a 24-30 win in game three, the Bears stormed back with a dominating 30-10 win, at one point reeling off nine consecutive points.
In the final game, the Bears had Elmhurst on the ropes, with two match point opportunities, but they failed to convert. The Blue Jays finally won the game 15-17 to close out the epic match and gain a share of the title.
Cindy McPeak was the big force for the Bears, tallying a career-high 18 kills. Freshman Megan Delcourt played well while splitting time as the setter and added 19 assists.
“We did show some flashes of brilliance during the tournament,” coach Rich Luenemann said. “Beating Elmhurst 30-10 in a game shows what we are capable of.”
While the team played at a high level throughout the match, the Bears have set such a high standard that any loss can be viewed as a disappointment.
“We’re disappointed that we went 3-1, but Elmhurst is a very good team,” Luenemann said. “All the parts of our game just didn’t come together like we wanted.”
Luenemann identified several key areas in which the team needs to improve to avoid similar losses in the future.
“Our ball control, digging, and passing were not as effective as we wanted them to be,” he said. “We only lost one starter, Rebecca Rotello, and she didn’t have a big impact in those areas, so we weren’t expecting to have problems there. Also, we thought blocking was a key aspect that we needed to improve on, and that was not as good as it should have been,” said Luenemann.
“We just need to tighten up and improve our consistency. I want to see them play well every game of every match,” he continued.
The most impressive match of the weekend for the Bears was their sweep of No. 15 Wartburg on Friday. They continued their impressive late-game play by rallying for a 30-24 win to start things off. The next game was all Bears as they outpaced the Knights 30-19. Colleen Winter finished it by reaching for the dig that set up the game winner. The dig gave Winter, a junior, 1,000 for her career.
The final game was closer, but the Bears pulled it out 32-30 to get the victory. They also defeated Hope College and Wisconsin-Oshkosh over the weekend.
“It’s just the beginning of the year, and every day we’re getting better,” Delcourt said. “It takes time for everything to get going again, so we really just need to get in a groove and play together.”
Another positive for the Bears was that Winter and Katie Quinn were named to the all-tournament team. Winter had 67 digs during the four matches and Quinn racked up 51 kills. Kara Liefer also provided great play in helping to replace the departed Rotello at setter.
“I think we need to look at it in a positive light,” Luenemann said. “We lost to a nationally-ranked team, and, more importantly, we now know what we need to focus on in order to get better.”
“We sat down and discussed it, and we all agreed that we must improve, and I know that we will get better,” he said.