St. Louis, Mo. – The No. 6 Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team enjoyed a series of 3-0 sweeps on Friday evening at the Field House, defeating Luther and UW-La Crosse on Senior Night.
 
The Bears defeated Luther 25-13, 25-12, 25-20 and UWL 25-14, 25-16, 25-14 and have now recorded nine 3-0 sweeps so far this season.
 
Before the 7 p.m. match against UW-La Crosse, seniors Taryn Gurbach, Amanda Gild, Lane Bohrer, Julie Keener, and student-assistant Kathy Lopez were all recognized.
 
With the two victories on Friday, WashU improves to 18-2 on the year and also moves to 10-0 in matches at the Field House this season.
 
WashU will return to action on Saturday for their final two matches of the WashU Invite against Illinois College at 10 a.m. & Millikin at 2 p.m.
 
WashU vs Luther
The Bears were dominant in their first match on Friday, as they produced 43 kills in a quick 3-0 sweep.
 
WU also finished the contest with seven blocks and seven service aces, while the Norse committed 15 hitting errors throughout the three sets of play.
 
Jasmine Sells led WashU with eight kills, while Tori Taylor posted seven with two block assists.
 
Michaela Bach and Paris Nix both registered six kills each additionally, while Nix also had a big effort up front at the net with a solo block and four assisted blocks.
 
Defensively, Gurbach notched 15 digs and Sam Buckley totaled 27 assists.
 
In the first set, WashU wasted no time pulling ahead 7-3 through the first 10 points. Leading 12-8 later in the set, WU went on an important 9-4 run to push the lead comfortable out to 21-12.
 
The Bears posted 17 kills in the first frame and on set point the 17^th kill came from Nix, who gave the Bears the 1-0 set advantage.
 
WashU dominated the second set, collecting an impressive .433 hitting mark with 15 kills in total.
 
After the Bears held an early 8-4 lead, Luther fought back to reduce the deficit down to 10-8. However, the Bears bounced back well with a 7-1 scoring run thanks to two service aces from Elise Gilroy and two kills from Lucy Davis.
 
WashU stayed on the attack and won the final six points of the set to take a 25-12 set victory heading into the third frame.
 
Holding a 7-3 lead out of the gate, the Bears looked ready for another convincing set win as they extended their advantage to 13-8.
 
Luther would not go down without a fight and used a 7-1 run to take a 15-14 lead briefly. WashU quickly answered right back with 10-4 scoring run which gave the Bears match point.
 
Tori Taylor, who finished with four kills in the third set, finished off the match with her seventh kill of the day to seal the set at 25-20.
 
WashU vs UWL
Against La Crosse, it was more of the same for WashU, as they came out and played their game right from the start.
 
In the victory, the Bears registered 36 kills as a team and won several points off UWL miscues throughout the night.
 
Lane Bohrer led WashU's offensive attack and tallied 10 kills and five digs, while Sells notched nine kills for a .438 hitting clip.
 
Michaela Bach chipped in with seven kills, seven digs, and two blocks, and a service ace and Nix added five kills, while Zoe Foster collected four kills.
 
Sam Buckley finished the match with 29 assists and a team-best eight digs.
 
The Bears hit and passed the ball well all evening finishing with a mark of .351 for the night, while UWL was .012 for the match.
 
In the first, WashU erased a 7-4 deficit using an 8-2 run to retake a 12-9 lead. UW-La Crosse kept themselves within striking distance at 16-13, but not before the Bears would put the set out of reach with a 6-0 run to lead 22-13.
 
The Bears won three of the final four points in the opening set and an attack error from the Eagles gave the Bears a 25-14 set win.
 
WashU won the first five points of the second frame and maintained a minimum three-point lead for the entirety of the set.
 
A string of strong attacks up front extended the Bears' lead out to 17-9, but UWL would slice the lead down to 17-3 with a quick 4-0 run.
 
However, once again, WashU kept its distance with a 4-0 run of their own to answer right back and make it a 21-13 lead. Moments later, the Bears won the set at 25-16 thanks to another kill from Sells, who led WashU in hitting percentage.
 
WU cruised to a 9-2 lead to start the third set as they continued to gather all of the momentum. In addition, the Bears took advantage of 11 attack errors from UWL in the third set and used an 8-1 scoring run to give them their largest lead of the day at 24-10.
 
After the Eagles fought off multiple match points, Paris Nix smashed a kill on the fifth match point to seal the sweep for the Bears.