Chicago, Ill., September 18, 2021 – The No. 19 Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team split its two Saturday matches on day one of the UAA Round Robin Tournament in Chicago.  

The Bears were victorious in a 3-0 sweep (25-16, 25-11, 25-23) over Rochester, but dropped the final match of the day to (RV) NYU 3-1 (18-25, 25-14, 19-25, 17-25). 

WashU (7-3, 1-1) will return to play tomorrow for the final day of the UAA Round Robin with a Noon CST match against Chicago.  

WashU vs. Rochester  

The Bears looked strong out of the gate as they took an early 7-3 lead in the opening set.  

WashU never trailed throughout the duration of the set and eventually built a 14-10 lead.  

The momentum carried over as the Bears won five consecutive points to take a commanding 19-10 advantage following two kills each from Michaela Bach and Alaina Bohrer.  

An opening set victory of 25-16 gave Wash U the edge heading into the second frame.  

WashU dominated the second set and took and early 10-2 lead before extending their lead out to 17-4 in route to a 25-11 set victory.  

The Bears produced a .360 hitting percentage with 13 kills in the second set as they got set for a third-set sweep.  

Rochester battled back and forth with WashU in the third set as both teams traded the lead multiple times.  

The Bears took a 15-13 lead following a set error, but would drop the next seven points as Rochester claimed a 20-15 lead.  

Moments later, WashU fought back with kills from Caitlin Lorenz and Jasmine Sells along with a service ace from Bohrer to reduce the lead down to 21-20.  

Tied at 22, the Bears would find a way to get it done as a kill from Julie Keener would seal the deal.  

With 38 team kills on the day, the Bears controlled the play at the net with Bach leading the way with a team-high 10 kills.  

Sells notched nine kills and Bohrer followed with eight on the afternoon. Additionally, Bohrer led the Bears with 11 digs.  

Chloe Emch posted 24 of WashU's 32 assists and Keener and Jordan Sandberg each registered three service aces apiece.  

WashU vs NYU  

Early in the first frame WashU tried to find some momentum after a kill from Michaela Bach cut the lead down to 7-6.  

However, NYU would go on a run as they opened the lead out to 16-8 later on in the set.  

The Bears were unable to cut the deficit further than six points as the Violets took the first set 25-18.  

Things went better for WashU in the second set as they earned 15 kills and posted a .361 hitting percentage.  

Leading 6-5, WashU won seven straight points to take a 13-5 lead. Following a timeout from NYU, the Bears continued to roll as they maintained the lead for the remainder of the set.  

A kill from Alaina Bohrer tied up the match as the Bears took set two 25-14.  

The Violets took advantage of 15 errors combined committed by WashU in the final two sets. 

Knotted at 10-10 in the third, NYU would go on a 7-2 run before claiming four of the final five points to close out the set.  

WashU struggled early on in the fourth set as they fell behind 12-5. However, the Bears would win nine of the next 11 points to tie up the set at 14 as they tried to rally back.  

NYU would win the next five points and then never looked back and won the final set 25-17 to win the match.  

Michaela Bach and Alaina Bohrer combined for 29 of WashU's 43 kills on the day.  

Paris Nix earned four block assists, marking a team-high on the afternoon and Chloe Emch finished with 38 assists. Emch is averaging over 8 assists per set this season.  

Taryn Gurbach led the Bears in the digs column with 14. Elise Gilroy tallied 12, while Bohrer finished with 11 and Emch added 10.