Terre Haute, Ind., September 24, 2021 – The No. 23 Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team cruised to back-to-back 3-0 sweeps on Friday at the Rose-Hulman Invitational.

 The Bears defeated Illinois Tech in the afternoon slate (25-14, 27-25, 25-12) and then host Rose-Hulman (27-25, 25-22, 25-15) in the evening session.

 WashU improves to 9-4 on the year and also moves to 3-2 on the season in neutral site matches.

WashU vs Illinois Tech

 Using 16 kills and a .387 hitting percentage, the Bears quickly jumped ahead with strong play in the opening set.

 Leading 8-6, WashU would win 13 of the next 15 points to take an overwhelming 21-8 lead. A service ace from Michaela Bach finished off the set for a 1-0 edge for the Bears.

 In the second set, the score was much closer, despite 18 kills in the frame from WashU. A back-and-forth set saw both teams trade the lead multiple times.

 The Bears seemed to find some breathing room late in the set with a 20-16 lead, but Illinois Tech won seven of the next points to lead 23-21.

 WashU battled back and fought off two set points at 24-22, following consecutive kills from Bach, before taking the set at 27-25.

 Things went much smoother for WashU in the third set as rolled to a sweep victory. Leading 12-8, the Bears ripped off six straight points and then won seven of the final eight points in the set to claim a decisive 25-12 set win.

 A kill from Sophia Ayubi ended the set and the match for the Bears.

 The Bears finished with an impressive 47 kills in just three sets, along with a .291 hitting percentage.

 Michaela Bach registered a team-high 12 kills and nine digs, as Alaina Bohrer notched 11 kills with nine digs. Bohrer finished with two solo blocks in the win, marking a team-high.

 Setter Chloe Emch finished with 33 assists and eight digs, as Jasmine Sells notched nine kills and six digs.

 Taryn Gurbach and Elise Gilroy each added nine and eight digs, respectively.

WashU vs Rose-Hulman

 The Bears used another strong performance in the opening set to take an early advantage. WashU notched 18 kills and a solid .357 hitting percentage in the first set as they fought off the Figthtin' Engineers 27-25.

 The second set also proved to be close as WashU was limited to only 10 kills, and six errors, but the Bears prevailed 25-22.

 Leaving no doubt, the Bears were able to respond with a solid effort in the third set to finish off the match with a 25-15 set win.

 WashU concluded the third set with 15 kills and a .325 hitting percentage.

 Freshman Zoe Foster recorded a season-best and team-high of 11 kills. Michaela Bach chipped in with 10 kills and 10 digs, and Alaina Bohrer tacked on 10 kills with eight digs.

 Taryn Gurbach led the Bears with 19 digs and Chloe Emch posted 34 assists and a season-high 18 digs.

 WashU finished the contest with 43 kills, 64 digs, and five service aces.

 The Bears are back in play on October 3 for the UAA Round Robin #2.