With the Washington University volleyball team already up two sets to zero, sophomore Ifeoma Ufondu went up for a kill against Wittenberg University, only to have it stuffed by a pair of blockers at the net. Without missing a beat, she volleyed the ricochet over the net and into open court, behind the surprised Tigers defenders.
“In games like this, when we’re very high energy, you’re kind of just playing off of instinct, and I think my instinct at that point was, ‘I’m going to put that ball back over,’” Ufondu said.
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Klien Xie | Student LifeMembers of the volleyball team high five on Friday, Sept. 2 in a game against DePauw University. The Bears beat No. 3 Wittenberg University in straight sets over the weekend.
Ufondu’s kill was a highlight moment for a Bears offense that could do no wrong. For three sets, they played nearly error free ball, while the defense stuffed and dug out any resistance the Tigers could offer. It all culminated in a three-set Saturday evening beat down of the Division III’s third-ranked team.
The win highlighted a 3-1 weekend for the Bears. Faced with one of their toughest series of the season and hosting for the first weekend since the season opener, the Bears nabbed two more wins: a three-set Friday victory over unranked University of Dubuque and a dramatic five-set win over Millikin University on Saturday afternoon, just 25 minutes before taking the court against Wittenberg. Millikin was ranked 23rd in the country as recently as Oct. 11. Their one loss of the weekend came Friday night, against No. 8 University of Texas-Dallas, in four sets.
After this weekend, the No. 17 Bears improve to 18-9 on the season.
Against Wittenberg, Wash. U. wasted little time in asserting itself. As if to foreshadow the team’s two-pronged domination, the first point of the first set came on a joint stuff from senior six-rotation player Rexi Sheredy and senior middle hitter Caroline Dupont. Seconds later, the second points came, on a thunderous kill from Dupont that landed in Tiger territory untouched. The Bears never looked back.
The Red and Green hit a torrid .412 as a team in that opening set—15 kills in 34 attempts to just one error. Meanwhile, the defense was just as effective, holding Wittenberg to 15 kills as well, but with 10 errors to go along. Four straight attacking errors by the Tigers gave the Bears a 15-9 lead midway through the first set. Much of that is thanks to an effective blocking scheme that tallied two solo blocks and 14 block assists. With the Bears already up 17-11 in the first set, Ufondu and sophomore middle hitter Julianne Malek had two straight stuffs to put the Bears up 19-11. Each time they landed, Ufondu shook her fists in celebration—the Bears were on fire.
“I thought our block was communicating really well on what [Wittenberg was] doing, so that we were always set and in the right position,” Ufondu said. “And if it wasn’t a stuff, we were doing a really good job of funneling the ball to our defense, so that it was an easy dig.”
Another rocketed kill from Dupont iced the first set 25-18 for the Bears.
In the second set, the Wittenberg offense did find their footing. After an error-filled first set, the Tigers committed just three in the second for a .429 attack percentage. The swing could have marked a change in momentum—only the Bears offense was even better, hitting .500, with an efficient 16 kills and two errors on 28 attempts. At one point, even sophomore defensive specialist Lauren Shin got a kill, when one of her hits from the back line sailed over the net and landed in the middle of six Wittenberg players. When the ball landed, Shin waved her fist over her head, while the Bears’ bench cheered in celebration. It was that kind of a game for the Bears.
“I think Chloe [Stile] did a good job distributing the ball, but I think our attackers did a really good job [of] taking care of the ball,” head coach Vanessa Walby said of the Bears’ blistering offensive pace, in particular highlighting the freshman setter.
“You might not be getting a kill every single time, but you’re at least putting the other team out of system so that they don’t have monster swings coming right back at you,” Walby said.
Still, with Wittenberg finding its groove offensively, the Bears found themselves down 22-21. A kill by Sheredy evened the score, then the Bears rode the senior’s serve for three straight points to take the set 25-22.
In the second half of the third set, the Bears looked ready to close out the victory. Ufondu’s serendipitous kill put the Bears up 18-10. With just seven points to go, the Bears took their foot off the gas pedal. That’s when the Tigers reminded everyone that they were still the No. 3 team in the country. Wittenberg went on a 9-1 run fueled by four errors from the Bears to storm back and take a 23-22 lead in the set.
“We struggled with [our serve receive] a little bit,” Walby said. “I think we were rushing it instead of paying attention to some of the details. And then, when we did get a good pass, our offense was rushing it.”
With the set back in jeopardy, the Bears refocused and closed out the set 26-24, with a three point run. A block from Dupont and Ufondo sealed the win.
Dupont led the way with a team-high 11 kills on 22 attempts, as well as two solo blocks and four block assists. Ufondu and Sheredy tallied nine and 10 kills in support, respectively. On the defensive end, Sheredy and freshman libero Zoe Baxter combined for 21 of the Bears’ 42 digs.
The match was the Bears’ first three set victory over a ranked team since they swept Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the NCAA tournament regional semifinals last year.
Beating Wittenberg is no small feat. To earn that No. 3 ranking, the Tigers defeated then-ranked No. 1 California Lutheran University in four sets back in September and swept Illinois Wesleyan University—a team the Bears lost to in four sets—just a day before squaring off against Wash. U. this weekend.
But the Tigers have also shown a tendency to fall out of sync for entire games at a time. Of Wittenberg’s five losses, four—including Saturday’s against the Bears—have now come in straight sets.
Throughout the season, Wash. U. has struggled to find consistent success against nationally competitive opponents, compiling a 5-7 record against teams, either in the top-25 or receiving votes. Oddly enough, when limiting scope to teams in the top five, the Bears have a much more respectable 3-2 record.
The Bears only have two games this week: one against Westminster College Tuesday night and another against Greenville College the next day. After that, it is on to the conference tournament, where Case Western University is Wash. U.’s first matchup and the University of Chicago and Emory University loom in later rounds.