The No. 14-ranked Washington University volleyball team was unable to topple No. 8 Emory in the conference tournament last Friday, but they’ll get another crack against the nation’s best during the regional rounds of the NCAA tournament this weekend in Whitewater, Wis.
The schedule is as follows: Thursday against Heidelberg University, and, if they win, Friday against the winner of No. 20 University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Bluffton University. If they make it past the first two rounds, the Bears will be in the regional finals against some iteration of No. 11 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, No. 10 Hope College, No. 18 Elmhurst College or Greenville College.
This year’s draw isn’t quite the “group of death” that the Bears were up against in 2015, but make no mistake that the Red and Green have a challenging three days ahead of them. Four of the eight teams in the draw are ranked in the top-25. And as third seed in the region, Wash. U. will more than likely need to pull off a few upsets, if they want to make it to the tournament’s next weekend for the first time since 2010.
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Skyler Kessler | Student LifeSenior Caroline Dupont jumps, aiming for a kill, in the Bears’ UAA 3rd-place championship game against University of Chicago. The Bears won 3-1 to win 3rd place in the tournament.
How did they get here?
It’s been an uneven season for the Bears, who had to replace three starters from a 2015 squad that spent much of the season ranked No. 1 in the country. After a tough early schedule against ranked opponents left them 5-5, the Bears surged forward—with the occasional hiccup—to finish with a 22-10 regular season record and an at-large bid to the playoffs. There have been plenty of disappointing losses, like back-to-back three-set thrashings at the hands of Whitewater and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. But there have also been several marquee moments, like the five-set duel they pulled out against California Lutheran University—the same team that eliminated the Bears from the postseason last year and enters this one ranked No. 1.
Wash. U. has already shown they can compete at the highest national level. Including their win over Cal Lutheran, the Bears have three victories over top-5 opponents this year. That’s one more than they had last year. The big question is whether they can maintain that level from game to game.
Familiarity
It’s a tough schedule that the Bears have ahead of them but also a familiar one. The Red and Green have played Whitewater, Elmhurst, Heidelberg and Greenville already this season, and save for Hope, they’ve faced each one of their potential opponents at least once in the past three years.
As mentioned earlier, Whitewater handed Wash. U. a fairly definitive loss early in the season. Meanwhile, Elmhurst beat the Bears in four sets, despite an up and down season of their own. The Red and Green had better fortunes against Heidelberg, a team they dispatched in a tight five sets and Greenville, who lost 3-0 and 3-1 in two matches this year.
Head coach Vanessa Walby could certainly use this extra exposure to fine-tune the Bears’ tactical plan against their opponents. Of course, the coaches at Elmhurst, Whitewater and the rest can also do the same for the Bears.
First Up
The Student Princes padded their 23-9 record beating weaker teams but have struggled against nationally recognized opponents. Against teams currently ranked in the top-25, Heidelberg is 2-6. Those two wins, however, were a miraculous sweep against then-No.5 Juniata College and a five-setter against Elmhurst. Add that to the fact that the Student Princes still pushed five sets against Wash. U., and this matchup has all the makings of a trap game in the first round.
Heidelberg relies heavily on their middle hitters, with just over 50 percent of the team’s 4500-plus total attacks coming from that position. Soaking up nearly over 1000 of those attempts is Sarah Parker, a senior middle who currently averages 3.93 kills per set, good enough for 34th in Division III.