ST. LOUIS, Mo. – In its final weekend of the regular season, the No. 8 Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team split a pair of matches against DePauw and No. 11 Millikin on Saturday inside the Field House.
The Bears opened with a 3-1 win over the DePauw Tigers. Prior to the match, WashU had a special ceremony to recognize its seven seniors for their dedication to the program. They included McKenzie Washington, Elise Gilroy, Jasmine Sells, Lucy Davis, Zoe Foster, Laura Brambilla, and student-assistant coach Jordan Sandberg. WashU then closed out the day with a 3-0 setback to the Big Blue.
WashU 3, DePauw 1
The first set against the Tigers was all WashU. The Bears used several runs of 3-0 or better to jump ahead 17-9. WashU then scored eight of the final nine points to grab the 1-0 lead with a 25-10 set one win.
It looked like the Bears would have a repeat set when they took a 13-2 lead to start the second set. However, DePauw would then trade points before a 5-0 run of their own pulled them within six at 20-14. The Tigers got within five at 23-18 but a pair of kills by Sells closed out the set 25-18, giving the Bears a 2-0 match lead.
DePauw never trailed in the third set en route to a 25-22 set win, preventing WashU from the sweep.
The two teams traded leads through the midway point of the fourth set with the Tigers holding onto a slim 14-13 lead. A 6-0 run by the Bears gave them their biggest lead of the set so far before they resumed trading points. Kills by graduate Lily Steinbach and sophomore Leah Oyewole closed it out 25-19 and the match 3-1.
Davis and Foster led the Bars with 12 kills each. Sells (11 kills) and Oyewole (10 kills) also reached double-figures. Junior Sam Buckley dished out a match-high 47 assists out of WashU's 53 total.
Gilroy, Sells, and Davis each finished the match with four aces.
Millikin 3, WashU 0
In their final regular season match, the Bears opened the match with the nationally-ranked Big Blue by dropping the first set 25-15. WashU only trailed by two early but an 8-0 by Millikin pushed its lead up to 10. Trading points the rest of the set before the Big Blue took the final two points for the 1-0 match lead.
The Bears kept it even with Millikin in the second set with the teams tied up at 11-11. The two teams traded 7-0 runs to once again remain even at 18-18. The Big Blue then scored five of the next six points to regain a four-point lead before WashU pulled within two, 24-22. A service error gave the visitors a 2-0 match lead after taking the second set 25-22.
The third set opened with the Bears leading by as many as three at 8-5 and holding onto a lead at 11-10. However, Millikin responded with 7-0 and 5-0 runs to jump out in front 22-12. Scoring back-and-forth once again, the Big Blue scored the final two points for the 25-14 set three win and the 3-0 match sweep.
Foster lead the team with 11 kills against Millikin.
WashU returns to the court next weekend when it travels to Rochester for the 2024 UAA Championship. The Bears earned the #3 seed and will face off against #6 NYU in the quarterfinals on Friday, Nov. 15 at 1 p.m. ET.
