Waltham, Mass., October 3, 2021 – The No. 23 Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team split its two matches on Sunday at the UAA Round Robin #2 on the campus of Brandeis University.

The Bears 10-5, (2-3) fell to No. 7 Emory in their first match of the day 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-21) but defeated Brandeis 3-1 (28-26, 25-25-17, 22-25, 25-13) to close out the round robin event. 

WashU at Brandeis

WashU had strong play up front in the opening set with 14 kills, which propelled the Bears in front early as they maintained an 18-11 lead.

Leading 24-21, WashU was in a great position to put the set away, but the Judges fought off five set points before a kill by Alaina Bohrer finally ended the set-in favor of WashU at 28-26.

The Bears got off to another solid start in the second frame as they hit .333 for the set, while once again holding the Judges to below a ,200 clip (.154).

WashU led 6-1 and then pushed ahead 13-6, as their lead was never in danger. Caitlin Lorenz registered a kill off a set from Alden Standley to give the Bears a 25-17 set win and a two-set lead.

Brandeis would claim the third set as the Judges collected 11 kills and WashU committed 10 errors.

Tied at 18 late in the set, Brandeis would jump ahead 24-20, before holding off a late rally from WashU to win the third set 25-22.

In the fourth, the Bears did not get off to an ideal start. Dropping the first seven points, WashU had to rally early to get back into the set, but that's exactly what the Bears did.

WashU quickly bounced back and closed the lead down to 13-9, and then completely took over and dominated the remainder of the set by winning the next 16 points.

Registering an impressive .455 hitting percentage, WashU tallied 12 kills in the set while Brandies committed eight errors and were held below the .200 hitting mark yet again.

The Bears' attack was led by a 14-kill effort from Michaela Bach. Bach also finished with six digs, four service aces, and two block assists in the victory.

Lucy Davis registered 12 kills with a .435 hitting percentage and Caitlin Lorenz and Abby Li added eight and six kills, respectively.

Taryn Gurbach led WashU in the digs' column with 14, while Alaina Bohrer finished with 10.

Alden Standley produced a career-high 41 assists in the victory.

WashU posted 47 kills as a team in the victory, including 11 service aces, 44 assists, and 50 digs.

WashU vs Emory

The Bears fell behind 12-6 in the opening set and were unable to reduce the deficit to any closer than five points.

WashU committed eight errors in the set and held a .036 hitting percentage, which made the comeback attempt difficult and also allowed Emory to extend its lead.

Emory won six of the final seven points in the set to take a 1-0 lead.

The Bears started the second set on a much better note, as both teams went back and forth for the first 15 points with Emory holding a slight 8-7 lead.

However, EU would win five straight points to build a 13-7 lead and eventually took a 23-12 lead.

WashU tried to close the gap as they won five of the next six points, but the Eagles would take a 2-0 set lead.

In the third, WashU got off to a great start and built an early 7-1 advantage after collecting four kills and two solo blocks.

Emory would claw their way back into it and tied things up at 11 moments later. The lead would be tied six more times throughout the remainder of the set as neither team could create a sizable lead.

Knotted up at 19 apiece, the Eagles won five of the following six points and took a 24-20 lead before clinching the set and match two points later.

WashU was limited to only 28 kills in the match and committed 21 attack errors throughout the three sets of play.

Emory finished with 12 block assists and WashU totaled eight.

Michaela Bach led the Bears with eight kills, while Jasmine Sells added six and two block assists. Sells and Paris Nix led WashU with two block assists each.

Taryn Gurbach recorded 15 digs and Faith Phillips notched 14 assists. Alden Standley tallied a season best 10 assists in the loss.

The Bears are back at home on October 8 for Pride Night at the WashU Invite against UW-Whitewater at 7:00 p.m.