No. 8 volleyball extends win streak to 10 in third UAA round robin

| Contributing Writer

Volleyball has won their last 10 games, including 5 UAA victories. (Sam Powers | Junior Photo Editor)

With the University Athletic Association (UAA) championships two weeks away, the No. 8 WashU women’s volleyball team approached their final of three UAA Round Robins with a chance to solidify their playoff seeding. Up to this point, the Bears were fourth in the conference with a 3-2 record, winning their previous three matches after starting conference play with two losses. On Oct. 27, WashU hoped to continue its momentum, coming off eight consecutive victories over a flawless month of competition. 

The Bears faced stiff competition, however. In Pittsburgh, they clashed with two teams of equal or better conference records: the No. 15 University of Chicago, also at 3-2, and Carnegie Mellon University, at 4-1, the second-best conference record. 

The Bears swept both opponents in competitive fixtures, with each match lasting five sets. The match against UChicago featured a comeback after being down two sets to one, and against Carnegie Mellon, they held on after taking an early lead. With the wins, the Bears finish UAA play 5-2 and will enter the conference tournament as the third seed.

Against UChicago in the morning, the Bears’s first set began close at 8-8. However, they then stormed ahead with five-point and six-point runs, profiting from five errors from the Maroons as well as three service aces in that stretch. The first set fell in favor of the Bears 25-20. 

However, a razor-close second set went to their opponents at 23-25. The third set was less than ideal for the Bears, as ten attacking errors contributed to a 17-25 scoreline in favor of UChicago. The Bears would now have to recuperate and win the two remaining sets.   

Facing a pivotal fourth set, the Bears were able to minimize their mistakes and fought back to make the match score 2-2, with graduate student Lily Steinbach recording six kills to contribute to a score of 25-22. Then, at a nerve-wracking scoreline of 9-10 in the fifth set, the Maroons recorded six errors over the next seven points as the Bears started off their day with a well-fought win. 

After the game, head coach Vanessa Walby described the adjustments the team made to help them win. 

“I think our team did an excellent job of engaging our block, which helped us with defense,” she wrote in a statement to Student Life. “We also started serving more aggressively and [held] our serve for multiple points at a time.”

Junior Anna Freeman spikes the ball. (Sam Powers | Junior Photo Editor)

Just a couple of hours later, WashU had a date with Carnegie Mellon, who, despite not being ranked nationally, was now equal to the Bears in UAA play with a 4-2 record (the Tartans lost their first match against No. 17 Case Western Reserve University earlier that morning). 

This time, the script was flipped, with the Bears dropping the first set 23-25 after getting out to an early 9-4 lead. They then claimed the second 26-24 as neither team won more than three consecutive points. With the set tied at 24, Steinbach and sophomore Leah Oyewole struck two kills to secure the set. 

At one point during the third set, the Bears won seven straight to make it 15-11, truly building momentum in this contest. Another set-claiming kill from Oyewole, who had a team-high 22 kills and a .500 hitting percentage by the match’s conclusion, ended the third at 25-22 and gave the Bears a 2-1 lead. Oyewole was named the UAA’s Offensive Athlete of the Week for her performances, and junior Sam Buckley was named the conference’s Setter of the Week.

While the Tartans rallied back in the fourth by a score of 25-19, the Bears were able to show their consistent resilience by coming back from an 11-7 deficit in the fifth to win 15-13. Senior Elise Gilroy had a strong defensive performance with 33 digs, almost a third of the team’s total during the match. 

“The team really stuck together and worked hard for each other. Our skill elevated in a lot of areas but I truly believe it was the commitment and passion they have for each other,” Walby wrote.

The team’s resiliency shined through as they had to face two tough opponents and the first five-set test in over a month since they faced Case Western in September. The Bears have now recorded 10 straight victories across all play, providing significant momentum as they approach the tail end of their season. Now, they are hoping to conclude their season with consistency.

“We are trying to take things match by match and finish the regular season strong on the court and in the classroom,” Walby wrote.    

The Bears have now usurped both the Maroons and Tartans in the UAA standings and are tied for second with the Case Western. Their national ranking for D-III women’s volleyball is likely to have been strengthened as well, giving them a stronger foundation for the NCAA Tournament, which they are firmly on track to qualify for. 

The Bears will seek to add to their strong run of victories on Oct. 31 against Illinois Wesleyan University and Greenville University on Nov. 6. On Nov. 9, the Bears will host both DePauw University and Millikin University in the WashU Tri. Finally, the UAA championships, the conclusion to conference play, follow not long after on Nov. 15 and 16 in Rochester.

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