Some things in life are certainties—death, taxes and a five-setter against Emory. This weekend was a painful remind of the latter for the Washington University volleyball team.

For the seventh time in nine meetings, No. 1 Wash. U. and No. 3 Emory University went a full five sets, and the newest installation in the rivalry saw the Eagles overcome a 2-0 deficit for the upset victory, 23-25, 17-25, 25-22, 25-20, 15-8.

Skyler Kessler | Student Life

Senior Jackie Nelligan spikes the ball during the Bears’ Oct. 7 game against Greenville. This weekend, the women’s volleyball team went 3-1 at the UAA round robin tournament in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Bears’ loss at the hands of their biggest rival will likely remove the team from its perch atop the national polls, and it ended one of the most impressive streaks in college sports.

Since the University Athletic Association switched its women’s volleyball matches to best-of-five contests in 1990, Wash. U. had won the first two sets of 245 conference matches. And in 245 chances, the Bears had won every single match.

Until Saturday, that is, when an experienced Emory defense combined with a sloppy Bears’ attack to stage an unlikely comeback and put an end to that quarter-century-long streak.

The Bears notched 14 service errors, compared to just five for the Eagles, and Wash. U. also totaled six more attacking errors than Emory. Of Emory’s first 10 points in the fifth set, five came from Wash. U. errors.

Head coach Vanessa Walby lamented the team’s barrage of errors, particularly in the shorter fifth set, when each point carries extra importance.

“Those are things that are 100 percent in our control,” she said. “We didn’t make [Emory] earn a whole lot in sets three, four and five.”

The service errors were particularly problematic, Walby added, because they gave Emory free points at key moments in the final sets.

“We missed serves at bad times…That’s kind of deflating when it comes to momentum,” she said. “Volleyball’s a game of mistakes.”

Emory controlled the pace at the beginning and end of the final three sets. The Eagles never trailed in the third or fifth sets, and they finished both the fourth and fifth sets with 5-0 runs.

Earlier in the match, a well-rounded attack had staked the Bears to their two-set lead.

“We came out hot, and we were playing extremely well. I’m not sure if Emory was playing their best game at that point…but we also knew that nothing’s ever going to be that easy,” Walby said.

Senior Nkiru Udenze and junior Amanda Palucki led Wash. U. with matching totals of 13 kills and 13 digs each. But adjustments from Emory in the latter sets prevented the Bears from running their usual fast-paced offense, and Wash. U.’s middles struggled to find a rhythm.

Junior middle hitter Caroline Dupont, who entered the contest leading Division III in hitting percentage at .440, managed just nine kills and six errors; the resultant .120 mark was the worst of her season.

“Most of all, Emory played well. They’re a good team,” Walby said. “They were up to the challenge of coming back.”

The Bears came back in their own way by winning their three remaining matches over the weekend, against competition from what Walby deemed “the toughest conference in the country.”

Within an hour of losing to Emory, Wash. U. was back on the court and throttling an overmatched Brandeis University squad in three sets. The Bears hit a blistering .619 in the first set, and eight different players posted kills in the match.

On Sunday, Wash. U. dropped just one set total in beating Case Western Reserve University and Carnegie Mellon University, both schools in the “others receiving votes” section of this week’s national top-25 poll.

Against Case Western, Dupont rebounded with a more typical tally of 14 kills and a .520 hitting percentage, and Udenze chipped in with another double-double of 15 kills and 15 digs.

Walby noted she was pleased with how the team addressed its biggest issues against Emory and quieted those concerns. With the middles more involved on offense, the team’s attack hummed, and the Bears tallied 28 aces compared to just 21 service errors total across the three victories.

With the regular-season conference schedule wrapped up, Wash. U. will return to UAA play at the conference tournament in early November. The Bears haven’t won the UAA since 2011, and they’ll likely have to go through Emory if they want to end that drought.

Odds are that match would go five sets.