Starting the Southeast Conference slate fast is exactly what the Washington volleyball team accomplished on Tuesday when they traveled south to Burlington and downed the Grayhounds in straight sets. 

Burlington was the team that brought the energy early and built a 12-5 advantage and an eventual nine point lead in the first. After a timeout by Demon head coach Aaron Six, the tide turned and the orange and black rallied back for a 26-24 victory. That wake up call was all they needed by cruising to a 25-14 win in set two and 25-21 in the third to end the night. Freshman Leighton Messinger led the offense with 12 kills and Ella Greiner added eight. Remy Messinger collected 12 assists before going down with an injury. Alex Murphy reorded three blocks, Leighton Messinger managed 14 digs, and the team was successful on 91% of their serves with seven aces. 

That serving is something Coach Six said changed throughout the night. “We had three or four serving errors early on and that hurt us. We battled back from that and started serving really well and finished 91% on the night. We just focused better and served into the right spots that took them out of their offensive attack. In return, that allowed us to increase our offense.”

The Demons move to 3-4 overall and start up SEC play 1-0. They host Mediapolis for a non-conference matchup tonight.