With the most national championships in Division III history as well as the most all-time weeks ranked at No. 1 in the country, Washington University’s women’s volleyball team is used to being the favorite in any given game. In an unfamiliar position over the weekend, the Bears were the underdog against current No. 1 Calvin College—and pulled off the upset, defeating the Knights 28-26 in the fourth set.

The Wittenberg Fall Classic started off rocky for the Bears with a narrow, five-set loss to No. 5 California Lutheran University, but the Red and Green recovered to reel off three consecutive victories against Calvin, Otterbein University and Heidelberg University.

The marquee matchup of the weekend came on Friday night against Calvin. Fresh off their loss to Cal Lutheran that afternoon, the Bears used the time between games to regroup and strategize for their most highly anticipated match of this young season.

“We gave ourselves time to get away from the gym and sort of refocus our efforts. We needed to think about what we wanted to do different from the Cal Lutheran match,” junior Allison Zastrow said. “We watched Calvin play a little bit so we were trying to figure out their tendencies.”

The refocused attitude seemed to help as the Bears went point-for-point with the top-ranked Knights in the first set. With the score tied at 24, two untimely errors by Calvin gave Wash. U. a 26-24 opening set win. After winning the next set with ease, 25-15, Wash. U. failed to capitalize on its momentum, losing the third set and a chance for a three-set sweep by a score of 25-21.

Despite posting just a .150 attack percentage in the fourth set, the Bears avoided a sudden-death fifth set with a solid defensive effort by limiting Calvin to just a .119 mark. The set was a back-and-forth affair for its entirety with no team leading by more than three at any given time, and it was not until sophomore Rexi Sheredy and junior Jackie Nelligan provided two consecutive kills that Wash. U. capped off an impressive win. In a testament to Wash. U.’s balanced attack, Zastrow, Sheredy, junior Nkiru Udenze and sophomore Caroline Dupont all finished with double-digit kills.

“At the end, it came down to making the right plays at the right time,” Zastrow said. “We weren’t going to let them beat us. We put everything we had out there on the court, and that ended up working for us.”

The upset victory against Calvin was a refreshing change from the earlier defeat at the hands of the California Lutheran Regals a couple hours earlier. The Bears came out with an energized performance in a 25-14 first set, but the Regals pulled out 25-23 and 25-17 victories in sets two and three, respectively. With the Bears now trailing, a stout defensive effort that held the Regals to just a .074 attack percentage in the fourth set allowed the Red and Green to force a decisive fifth. In the final set, the Bears had a match point leading 14-13, but the Regals converted on three straight kills to win the match.

Sophomore Kalehua Katagiri recorded 23 digs to lead the Bears in defeat. Although the Bears couldn’t pull out the victory, senior Lindsay Juriga believes that the team still played well enough to win and that it was just a matter of not finishing each set.

“I think we played extremely well in the Cal Lutheran game. Our defense was very good, but I think in a few of the games we had a hard time finishing when we should have, which made the game go to five [sets], and in the end they outplayed us. Overall, I think it was a pretty even match, and we were very close to winning,” Juriga said.

On Saturday, Wash. U. finished off the tournament with wins over Otterbein and Heidelberg. Against Otterbein, the Bears won in four sets by scores of 25-21, 30-28, 21-25 and 25-20. The Bears’ defense stifled Otterbein to a .139 attack percentage, and offensively, Nelligan led the team with 12 kills.

In the final match of the weekend, Wash. U. showed no signs of fatigue as it dominated Heidelberg 25-18, 25-22 and 25-12 to cement a winning weekend. Udenze led the team with 11 kills and a stellar .625 attack percentage as part of a stout Bears offense that never posted an attack percentage below .342 in a set. The team’s overall .390 attack percentage was its highest since last October, and by far its highest of this season so far.

The 3-1 weekend improved the Red and Green’s overall record to 11-2. With such a quick start to the season, including two wins over top-five teams after the Calvin upset and last week’s home win over Wittenberg University, Bears head coach Vanessa Walby made sure that the team is focused on the tough road ahead.

“Every single match and weekend is going to be a big challenge for us,” Walby said. “We are constantly playing teams that are competitive and have the ability to beat anyone on any given day. Plus, the more successful we are, the larger the target gets on our back. Everyone will always play their best game against us and we need to be prepared for that all of the time.”

Nonetheless, the Bears are still thrilled with this weekend’s performance, especially with the team’s defensive play.

“We are very happy with how we played. Even though we lost to Cal Lutheran, we played extremely hard and we really focused on our defense, which we’ve really been focusing on in practice, and that’s come a long way,” Juriga said. “Combining our scrappy defense with our offense is making us a really well-rounded team right now.”