Before the Washington University volleyball team rallied to crush the Gorloks of Webster University for their 29th consecutive victory in the Battle of Big Bend, they looked to be on their backfoot.

Their first set was miserable. The bears had as many errors as they did kills. Webster had a good-but-not-great hitting percentage at .189, and that was more than enough to trounce the Bears, 25-10, in the first set.

“Webster came out and played us really hard!” Wash. U. head coach Vanessa Walby said in an email on Wednesday. “They were fantastic. We were coming off of an ‘off’ weekend and I think it took us a little bit to catch our rhythm.”

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Sophomore Caitlin Lorenz jumps to block a shot against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Sept. 13. The Bears bounced back from a first set loss to beat Webster University, 3-1, on Tuesday night.

The Bears started to turn it around in their second set. They raised their hitting percentage from .000 to .270. They led from the outset; out of a timeout, when Webster looked like they could be poised for a run, senior Leila King came up with a big solo block to muddle the Gorlok momentum. Wash. U. never looked back from there. They won that set, 25-16, then pummeled Webster in the next two, 25-15, 25-15, to pick up the four-set victory.

“We started working together and hitting our shots,” Walby said in reference to those last three sets. “A lot of people stepped up and created a great team environment.”

The win brought Wash. U.’s record on the season to 12-5 heading into the second UAA Round Robin this weekend in Atlanta. Webster fell to 7-8.

Sophomore Michaela Bach was sharp all night. Her career-high 19 kills were the most in the game by a wide margin. “She really worked her shots,” Walby said, adding that Bach was “hitting aggressively and working her [off-speed] shots.”

By the third set, the Bears were starting to build too much momentum for Webster to overcome. Junior Kirby Knapp served for eight consecutive points. Knapp was also active in setting up her teammates, posting 16 assists in the set. Of those 16 assists, six were finished by kills from Bach.

The fourth set looked like it was going to be more of the same. The Bears opened up on a 5-0 run. However, solid play from the Gorloks and a few errors by Wash. U. led to a tie game at 10-10. Another error even gave Webster a 10-11 lead. That was Webster’s last lead of the game. 14 of the next 16 points were tallied by the Bears. Webster managed to stall Bears at 24 for a couple points. But Wash. U. couldn’t be kept from match point forever as Bach recorded her final kill to win the game for the Bears.

The win came in the last game before the second University Athletic Association Round Robin, where the Bears will face No. 1 Emory University and Rochester University. Walby hopes her team will bring the same mentality they showed as they closed out Webster when they take on their tough conference opponents.

“We need to keep working our game plan and work together as a group,” Walby said. “Playing for each other is the most important part of the game plan.”