WHITEWATER, Wis. – It was not how the No. 10 Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team wanted to see their season end, but it fought until the end in a 3-1 loss to #17 Wisconsin-Platteville in the NCAA Tournament regional semifinal on Friday afternoon at the Russell Center in Whitewater.
UWP won the first two sets before the Bears battled back to take the third. The Pioneers responded by clinching the win with a 25-17 set four win.
The first set saw the Pioneers jump out to a 9-2 lead before a 7-0 by WashU tied the score up. The teams then traded runs that would see UWP hold a slim 15-13 advantage. Every point that the Bears would take, the Pioneers answered and would not let WashU get within less than four at 24-20 before closing out the first set 25-20.
Despite UWP building up to a six-point lead early in the second set, the Bears chipped away and would tie the score up midway through the set, 14-14. Once again UWP slowly built their lead back up and led by as many as seven before closing out the set with a 2-0 match lead, 25-18.
In the third, it was WashU's turn to jump ahead by at least five with the 14-9 lead. Despite their best efforts, the Pioneers couldn't get within less than three (18-15). The Bears also used a 6-1 late to get their first set point and closed it out three points later, 25-18 to cut the match lead down to 2-1.
Much like the first set, UWP took a 9-3 lead over WashU before the Bears cut the lead down to two at 9-7. A small 3-0 run by the Pioneers pushed them ahead before a late 4-0 run, after a string of back-and-forth points, saw them take a 20-13 lead. WashU saved the first match point, but a Pioneers kill ended the match 3-1, 25-17 in the fourth.
Senior Zoe Foster and sophomore Leah Oyewole had the team-high 12 kills on the day.
Junior Sam Buckley finished the match with her 13th double-double as she dished out 32 assists to go along with 11 digs.
Senior Jasmine Sells had the team-high in digs with 16 while classmate Elise Gilroy finished with 12.
The Bears finish the season with a 29-7 overall record and a 5-2 conference record in the UAA. WashU finished runner-up in the UAA while also recording a 15-1 home record.
