There’s only one way to properly describe the No. 9 Washington University volleyball team: on fire. The Bears walked into the weekend with an eight-game win streak, and left with their undefeated streak extended to eleven.

In their first game of the season against Coe’s Kohawks, on Aug. 30, the Bears came up on top in a five-set thriller. However, the day following the win, they lost to Hope in five sets and fell 0-3 against Northwestern.

While Henderson’s departure left questions about the program, the hire of a proven winner — Stone — sets the Bears up for an intriguing 2024-25 season.

Following the weekend, the Bears move to 9-7 on the season with four more matches to go before the University Athletic Association (UAA) and NCAA championships.

On Jan. 23, just three days after the meet, the women’s team clocked in as Division III’s best team in the first national rankings of the indoor season. The men’s team was also honored in their respective top 25, slotting in at No. 22.

“We’re exactly where we want to be. We worked pretty hard and played really well against super-talented and very strong opponents. So there were no hard feelings. We’re just looking forward to getting back on the field for our next game,” senior goalkeeper Sid Conner said after the weekend’s matches. 

The loss marks the first loss of the season for Washington University Football (5-1, Bears), now sitting 5-1 overall and 4-1 in conference play.

With the victory, WashU handed the Violets their second loss of the season in a closely fought game, dropping them to 1-1 in University Athletic Association (UAA) conference play and bringing the Bears to 3-0. 

There are 1,893 NCAA men’s and women’s soccer teams. All but one of them have conceded a goal over the last two months. Eight games into its season, the Washington University women’s soccer team is the sole exception: college soccer’s only clean sheet. 

“We have a lot of work to do to get where we’ve got to go, but the best way of learning is learning while winning,” said Coach Jim Conlon in his message to the Washington University women’s soccer team following their home opener against Carroll University on Friday afternoon. If the best way of learning includes winning, then the 10th ranked squad in the country has definitely learned a lot through three games.