St. Louis, Mo. – The No. 6 Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team capped off the WashU Invite with two more 3-0 sweeps on Saturday, defeating Illinois College and Millikin at the Field House. 
 
The Bears defeated IC 25-19, 25-18, 25-17 and fought past the Big Blue 25-20, 25-23, 26-24. 
 
WashU wins its fourth straight game and improves to 20-2 on the season and remains unbeaten at the Field House (12-0).
 
WU will return to action on Wednesday for a mid-week non-conference matchup against Greenville at 7 p.m.
 
WashU vs Illinois College
The Bears started off the morning right where they left off from Friday by grabbing the early momentum with a first-set victory. 
 
The opening stages of the first set were a tight battle but the Bears would break away from an 8-8 tie with a 9-4 run to lead 17-12. 
 
Illinois College managed to keep it close at 22-19 later on, but WU would leave no doubt in the set by winning the final three points for a 25-19 set win. 
 
In the second frame, WashU posted 15 kills as a team and took advantage of seven IC hitting errors. 
 
However, it was the Lady Blues who found themselves ahead 10-7 as both teams traded leads. WU would win four of the next five points to get the lead back momentarily at 11-10, but Illinois College climbed back ahead at 17-13 following a 7-2 scoring run. 
 
The tide would change in favor of WashU, as Lily Steinbach provided a massive spark off the bench en route to a 9-0 scoring run to put WU in front 22-13. 
 
Steinbach would notch four kills in the final 12 points of the set and back-to-back kills from Jasmine Sells sealed the set at 25-18, capping off a 12-1 run. 
 
The Bears finished the contest hitting .290 and jumped ahead 8-3 to start the third set. Illinois College would battle back again and reduce the margin to just two points at 14-12, but it was the Bears who answered again with a big 7-2 run for a 21-14 advantage. 
 
With the Lady Blues on the ropes, WashU would clinch the match by winning three of the final four points. 
 
As a team, WashU collected 44 kills, marking the 16th time this season where the Bears have produced at least 40 kills in a match. 
 
Lane Bohrer finished with 10 kills and seven digs, while Michaela Bach added nine and Steinbach totaled six. 
 
Bach hit .450 for the match and Steinbach had a career-best hitting clip of .625. 
 
Taryn Gurbach led the Bears in digs with 13, while Elise Gilroy registered 12 digs and team-high three service aces. 
 
Sam Buckley produced her ninth 40+ assist match and also recorded nine digs. 
 
Zoe Foster and Tori Taylor each collected three blocks apiece in the victory. 
 
WashU vs Millikin
The Bears were tested against Millikin in the final match of the afternoon, as all three sets were competitive and down to the wire. 
 
WashU finished the match with 41 kills and a .252 hitting mark. Michaela Bach finished with a double-double of 10 kills and 12 digs along with five assisted blocks. 
 
Zoe Foster tied her season-high in kills with 10 and registered a .625 hitting mark with zero hitting errors in the win. Foster also tallied five block assists. 
 
Buckley added a team-high 33 assists and 14 digs, matching a season-best in digs. 
 
Bohrer tacked on nine kills and Sells chipped in with eight. 
 
Defensively, Gurbach registered 16 digs and Elise Gilroy posted 12. 
 
After the Big Blue were on top 7-6 early in the first, WU went on a crucial 8-2  run to find some breathing room with a 14-9 lead. 
 
From that point on, the lead would never drop further than three points as WashU would claim three of the final four points for an opening set win, following a kill from Foster. 
 
The Bears only had 10 kills in the second set and found themselves playing catchup early on. Trailing 10-7, the Big Blue would extend the lead out to 16-9 as the Bears faced their largest deficit of the weekend. 
 
Following a timeout, WashU responded with a 9-1 run to take an 18-17 edge, as MU committed six errors alone in the run. 
 
With WashU back in front, it was a grind down the final stretch as the Big Blue tied it up twice more. 
 
Knotted at 23-23, WU won the last two points of the set for an important 2-0 lead. 
 
In the third frame, it was another battle to the distance with both squads combining for 25 kills. 
 
With seven ties through the first 24 points, the set was dead even at 12-12. 
 
Millikin was ahead 18-16 but the Bears came up clutch with a key 7-2 run to take the lead back at 23-20. 
 
The Big Blue rattled off the next four points and had set point, but WashU regrouped nicely by winning the next three points to take the set and match.