St. Louis, Mo. – The Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team recorded a 3-1 (25-10, 24-26, 25-18, 25-11) victory at Fontbonne in Thursday evening's season opener.
 
Altogether, WashU finished with 54 total kills for a .323 hitting percentage with 13 service aces and five total blocks.
 
Jasmine Sells led WashU with 16 kills, matching a career-high, while Michaela Bach added nine in the victory. Sells' impressive performance also included a .609 hitting percentage individually. 
 
First-year Sam Buckley registered 35 assists in her WashU debut to lead the way, while Lane Bohrer posted seven digs, six kills, and a team-best five service aces. Buckley also finished the match with eight digs.
 
Defensively, senior Taryn Gurbach recorded a team-high 18 digs, while Elise Gilroy notched 11.
 
WashU was solid in the opening set, collecting a hitting percentage of .519, as they posted 15 kills and only had one error.
 
The Bears built a substantial lead early on thanks to quality play up front. A 13-2 scoring run propelled WashU in front 19-4, including a stretch of nine consecutive points won.
 
WU closed off the set with a kill from Michaela Bach at 25-10 to take a 1-0 advantage.
 
In the second frame, the Bears got off to a strong start, maintaining a 10-5 lead, but an 8-1 scoring run from Fontbonne put the Griffins on top 13-11.
 
As both teams traded leads and battled back and forth, WU pushed ahead 24-22 looking to take a 2-0 lead, but Fontbonne would claim the final four points of the set.
 
WashU shrugged off a slow start in the third set and found its rhythm again. Tied at 10-10, the Bears' 8-3 run gave them some breathing room with an 18-13 advantage. After the Griffins cut the lead down to 19-15, WashU won the next four points and then finished off the set moments later with a kill from Sells.
 
In the final set, the Bears performed nearly identical to their first set numbers statistically on the evening. WashU combined for 14 kills in the frame and only committed two errors.
 
The Bears jumped ahead 13-4 and then extended their lead out to 23-11, before a service ace from Abby Li two points later finished off the contest.
 
 The Bears will return to the Field House for tomorrow's WashU Labor Day Invite. The Bears will matchup with Berea at 4:30 PM and North Park at 7 PM.