Cleveland, Ohio, November 5, 2021 – The Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team fell in five sets at the UAA Championship quarterfinals on Friday afternoon to Carnegie Mellon 3-2 (25-18, 25-14, 15-25, 14-25, 15-11) in Cleveland.

The Bears concluded the day with a 3-0 victory (25-16, 25-7, 25-18) over Rochester in the consolation semifinals.

WashU (17-9) will play again tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. EST against Case Western in the fifth-place match. 

WashU vs. Carnegie Mellon

Costly errors hurt WashU in the opening set, as they obtained 10 errors in the opening frame which gave CMU the edge as they took the first set 25-18.

WashU struggled again in the second set, falling behind early 10-5. For the set, WashU was limited to only eight kills and committed six errors. Leading 15-10, the Tartans closed the set on a 10-4 run to take a two-set lead.

The Bears responded with a great third set. WashU registered a .300 hitting percentage, which saw a combined 17 kills as they never trailed on their way to a wire-to-wire set victory. 

After holding on to an 8-7 edge, the Bears exploded on a 14-2 run and were comfortably ahead 22-9.

WashU had its best set statistically in the fourth, after compiling 13 kills and only one error along with a .480 hitting percentage. Both teams traded leads early on before WU broke away from a 6-6 tie to take a 17-9 lead, following an 11-3 run.

Back-to-back kills from Alaina Bohrer and Alden Standley finished off the set for WashU.

However, the Bears were unable to carry their momentum into the fifth set. WashU trailed the entire way and fell behind 10-3 early.

The Bears cut the lead down three at 10-3, but CMU won two of the final three points to win the match.

As a team, WashU finished the contest with 56 kills and a .189 hitting percentage.

Faith Phillips led the Bears with 33 assists, while Taryn Gurbach collected 23 digs, both team-highs. Phillips also recorded 16 digs in the outing. 

Senior Michaela Bach led the Bears up front with 17 kills on 50 total attack attempts. Alaina Bohrer registered 12 kills, and Caitlin Lorenz and Abby Li both notched six each.

Elise Gilroy chipped in with 14 digs off the bench, along with Alden Standley, who tallied 13 assists in the loss.

The Bears added 10 block assists in the loss, with senior Abby Li tallying four, while Alaina Bohrer and Jasmine Sells each tabbed two apiece.

WashU vs. Rochester

The Bears came out and dominated Rochester in every facet of the match on Friday night.

WashU accumulated 37 kills and held a .315 hitting percentage in the victory. Michaela Bach led the Bears with 10 kills, while Jasmine Sells totaled nine kills and Alaina Bohrer recorded seven kills.

Faith Phillips once again led WashU with 22 assists, and Taryn Gurbach and Elise Gilroy posted 15 and 12 digs, respectively.

In addition, WashU notched 10 service aces throughout the contest. Gilroy led WashU with four service aces.

During the first set, WashU jumped ahead following four kills and two service aces which led to a 10-4 lead. Using a 13-4 run, the Bears rolled to a dominating 25-16 set victory.

The Bears tabbed 15 kills in the second set along with a .520 hitting percentage, cruising to a 25-7 set win.

WashU won 16 of the final 18 points of the set, including the last eight consecutive points.

In the third set, WashU quickly pulled ahead 11-2 and never looked back. The Bears put the finishing touches on the match with 12 more kills in the frame.

A late rally from Rochester was not enough, as back-to-back service aces and a kill from Jasmine Sells clinched the Bears win.