Lucy Davis serves for the Bears. (Sam Powers | Junior Photo Editor)

The regular season has officially come to a close for the No. 11 WashU women’s volleyball team. Following a 26-5 season, the Bears are ranked as the third seed in the upcoming UAA championship tournament. On Nov. 9, the Bears split a weekend doubleheader, ending a 13-game win streak in a loss to No. 10 Millikin University after a win over Depauw University earlier in the day. 

The first game of the weekend was against DePauw, and the match marked a special occasion as WashU’s Senior Day. The Bears had not lost to DePauw since 2017, and, once again, WashU came away with a commanding 3-1 win. 

“The atmosphere in the gym was electric; the stands were packed with family and friends, all cheering us on,” senior middle blocker Zoe Foster wrote in a statement to Student Life. “It was easy to feed off of their energy and play well.”  

The game was highlighted by an all-around attack that saw four Bears having double-digit kills: Foster, senior outside hitters Jasmine Sells and Lucy Davis, and sophomore right-side hitter, Leah Oyewole. Besides dropping the third set, which saw the game tied at 20-20 before the Tigers pulled away 25-22, WashU made sure every other set wasn’t close.

Their three winning sets, the Bears held DePauw to fewer than 20 points in each, with WashU taking the first set in a dominating 25-10 performance, capitalizing on serves. A major focus throughout the season, service aces have become an integral part of the Bears’ game. 

“I thought we did a great job of serving and blocking against DePauw,” head coach Vanessa Walby wrote to Student Life. “We were able to play some solid defense due to the block and our serving really put them out of system.”

Junior setter Sam Buckley had a game-high of 47 assists and added nine digs, continuing to provide her usual support for the team. With 3,844 career assists, Buckley is sixth on the WashU leaderboard all-time and leads Division III with 1,271 this season. 

“Sam Buckley is the gel that holds this team together,” Foster wrote. “She does an amazing job running the offense with a competitive but fun attitude.” 

In the team’s second match against No. 11  Millikin, the Bears ended their regular season in heart-breaking fashion, getting swept 3-0. It was a game where the Bears beat themselves up, committing nine attack errors in the first set alone as they lost 25-15. 

The serves that helped power WashU to an impressive win against DePauw remained flat in the loss against Millikin. In the second set, the Bears made four service errors. A continuous cycle of errors hurt the Bears in the third set, where they ultimately lost 25-14. The Bears began the set strong with early leads, but it was for naught as the Big Blue put together a very impressive attacking set to end the match. 

“Millikin is a great team and played well against us,” Walby wrote. “We will work as a team to learn from this so we know how to adjust when challenged again.”

Sam Buckley sets up the WashU attack. (Sam Powers | Junior Photo Editor)

Despite the regular season ending in a loss, the team members keep their heads high as they go into their first match of the UAA tournament as the third seed.

“UAA championships are officially the start of the post-season, which is an opportunity to carry over the success we’ve had in the regular season,” Foster wrote. 

On Friday, Nov. 15, they will play New York University (NYU) — the UAA’s sixth seed — in Rochester in what should be an impressive showdown. WashU beat NYU 3-1 in October and will look to replicate the success in the conference tournament. However, after finishing sixth in last year’s conference playoff, the Bears look forward to a new opportunity this year.

“It is a clean slate,” Foster wrote. “It’s been a while since we won the UAA title, so we are hungry to make a statement.”