Thousand Oaks, Calif., September 10, 2021 – The No. 18 Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team headed out to California for the East To West Battle, hosted by Cal Lutheran.

The Bears opened the day with a 4-1 (26-24, 21-25, 25-13, 25-22) win over Saint Benedict before falling in straight sets to No. 6 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (21-25, 23-25, 25-22). The Bears are now 5-2 on the season.

WashU vs. Saint Benedict

In the opening set, WashU took an early 8-4 lead after scoring four unanswered points behind kills from Elise Gilroy, Caitlin Lorenz and Jasmine Sells and a service ace from Alaina Bohrer.

After Saint Benedict pulled even, 10-10, WashU went on another 4-0 run to take the 14-10 advantage, following back-to-back kills from Michaela Bach and a service ace from Gilroy.

Saint Benedict's Gabby Heying recorded back-to-back service aces to tie the set and then give the Bennies an 18-17 edge.

The set would ultimately go on to be tied up four more ties at 21, 22, 23 and 24, before the Bears ended things on a kill from Abby Li and a Bennies' attacking error.

WashU started things off in the second set with a 4-1 lead, behind kills from Bach and Lorenz, as well as a service ace from Gilroy. The Bears remained in the lead by a handful of points but the Bennies were never far away, closing it to just one point, 15-14.

Saint Benedict ended up tying things up, 18-18, on a Sophie Kobienia kill before scoring two more to take the two-point edge.

A four-point run opened things up a bit for the Bennies, 24-19, before a kill from Heying closed the second set out.

The Bears started things off, 2-0, to open the third set. Things remained close until WashU went on a 6-0 run behind kills from Lorenz, Sells and Chloe Emch, to take an 11-5 advantage.

WashU turned that lead into double digits after scoring seven-straight to go up 20-9. The Bears then closed things out with three points in a row, including kills from Bach and Lorenz, to claim the third set.

In the fourth and final set, the Bennies jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead on a kill from Emma Guest and a pair of WashU attacking errors. The Bears responded, however, with six points in a row, including kills from Bohrer and Li, as well as two service aces from Gilroy.

The Bennies kept things close, cutting the lead to just two points, 14-12, before the Bears created some distance.

Five-straight points behind kills from Lorenz, Li and Sells gave WashU a 19-12 advantage. Saint Benedict went on to close the gap to just two points again as the match dwindled down, but a kill from Bohrer ended the set and clinched the match for WashU.

Lorenz had a team-high 14 kills against the Bennies, while Bohrer recorded 11 and Sells had eight. Emch finished with 38 assists and 11 digs.

WashU vs. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

Things were close from the jump, as the set was tied up at one, three, four and five. The Athenas created some distance, however, scoring four straight to take a 9-5 lead.

CMS held a several-point lead until the Bears scored back-to-back points on kills from Sells and Li to tie things up, 17-17. The Athenas tied the set up again at 18 before scoring two more points to take a lead, which they would ultimately keep the rest of the set.

A 3-0 run put CMS up 23-19 and a kill from Audrey Sawyer closed it out, 25-21.

The Athenas opened up the second set on a 3-0 run before kills from Sells and Gilroy cut it down to one point.

Back-to-back points from CMS including a service ace gave the Athenas a 10-5 advantage.

The Bears, however, would go on a 7-2 run behind a service ace from Jordan Sandberg and a kill from Li to tie things up, 12-12. Three-straight points from CMS gave the Athenas a slight 16-14 lead but the Bears were never far behind.

WashU continued to fight and keep the Athenas' lead to three points or fewer, pulling within one point, 24-23, on a kill from Bohrer. CMS' Jenna Holmes, however, closed the set out with a kill.

In the third set, CMS opened with a 2-0 edge. The Athenas ultimately built that up to a 9-4 lead after three points in a row.

After exchanging points and a tie at 16, the Bears took their first lead of the set. A kill from Paris Nix put WashU up, 18-16, and forced a CMS timeout.

WashU continued to hold the lead as the set progressed, and led 22-20 on a kill from Emch.

The Athenas, however, scored the final five points of the match to claim the 3-0 win.

Sells had a team-high 15 kills against the Athenas while Bach notched 11. Emch finished with 32 assists and 10 digs.

The Bears are back in action tomorrow evening to close out the East To West Battle against the home team, Cal Lutheran at 5:15 p.m. PDT.