One streak came to an end, but another more important one continued for DePauw's volleyball team.
In what some believe to be the longest in school history, the Tigers' 24-straight set wins came to an end Saturday when the Tigers dropped a third set 25-22 against Millikin University.
DePauw went on to win the match, 3-1 and adjusted well in that fourth set to eventually earn the win. The victory completed a 4-0 weekend for the Tigers, who extended their match winning streak to 11. Other straight-set wins during the weekend were against Kalamazoo College, Olivet College and Hanover College.
"I still see so many areas of our game where there is a tremendous up-side," head coach Deb Zellers said. "I want to see us continue to move forward. We will see even better teams than what we're seeing right now. These wins are great, but this is a great starting point for when we want to gain momentum for some of the even tougher competition that we'll see."
The team displayed incredible precision on defense and offense at times. During one stretch against Olivet on Friday, DePauw went on a 15-1 run as the team recovered from an 18-13 deficit in the second set then scored three straight points in the third and final set.
Senior outside hitter Katie Petrovich attributes excellent play to competition in practice and strong defense leading to smooth offense. She pointed toward stellar play by freshman setter Faith Rolwes - but that there is room for improvement.
"We have to be smarter with our hits," Petrovich said. "We have the ability to put the ball down, and I think once we can decipher what shots to make at what times during the game, that will lead to winning this conference."
But it was against a 9-4 Millikin team where the Tigers overcame some adversity to win their 11th straight match. In the third set, Zellers said Millikin was simply hitting balls to holes in DePauw's defense and they were frustrating to her team. However, after a timeout midway through the third, the Tigers adjusted their defensive set up and began to creep back into the set. The deficit was too great to overcome, as DePauw dropped it 25-22, but carried the momentum into the fourth to win 25-11.
"The chemistry that we're seeing on the court is really the outcome and the intent that we've put in the game," Zellers said. "We have no idea where the ceiling is. We can just keep going and the sky is the limit."
The Tigers host the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology on Wednesday at 7 p.m.