ST. PAUL, Minn. – The No. 17 Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team secured a season-opening win over (RV) Coe on Friday afternoon at the 2024 Kathryne Pals Legacy Invitational, hosted by the University of Northwestern.
 
The Bears battled the Kohawks to five sets (25-21, 22-25, 25-16, 16-25, 15-13).
 
Sophomore Leah Oyewole matched her career-high with 17 kills while seniors Jasmine Sells and Zoe Foster each tallied 12 kills. Elise Gilroy recorded a team-high 26 digs and Sam Buckley had 21 assists.
 
The Bears opened the first set on a 3-0 run but the Kohawks stormed back to score eight-straight points and take an 8-3 lead. WashU answered with six-straight points to go up 9-8, which included a service ace from Sells and a pair of blocks from Foster/Oyewole and Foster/Lucy Davis.
 
WashU added another four-straight behind a pair of kills from Davis and one from Oyewole.
 
Coe ultimately tied the set at 18 apiece and then again at 19. The Bears strung together two points from a Foster kill and ace for the 21-19 edge and went on to close out the set with three-straight points, including a kill from Davis and a block from Lily Steinbach.
 
After dropping the close first set, the Kohawks built up a 5-3 lead in the second set. A pair of kills from Steinbach and Sells tied things up and then gave the Bears a 7-6 edge.
 
The Kohawks tied things up a 7-7 and 8-8 before WashU scored three-straight behind kills from Buckley and Oyewole for the 11-8 lead.
 
With WashU up 15-11, Coe score five points in a row to go up 16-15 and then extended the lead to 19-17 following a service error and a kill from Kelsey Hansel.
 
Down 23-19, WashU scored three in a row on a kill from Oyewole and a pair of blocks from Foster and Davis to make it a 23-22 set. However, a kill from Hansel and an attacking error closed things out, giving Coe the second set and tying the match 1-1.
 
After going down 3-2, WashU turned the tide in its favor with three kills from Foster, Oyewole and Davis to make it a 5-3 third set. The Bears started to gain more steal with another three-point run on kills from Davis and Sells and an attacking error to go up 9-5.
 
Another three-point stretch which included kills from Sells and Foster and a block from a Foster/Buckley duo put WashU ahead 12-6. Coe scored three points to cut it to a three-point deficit but another three points from the Bears, including an ace from Buckley, extended it to 15-9.
 
Up 15-12, a pair of kills from Oyewole, a kill from Foster and an ace from Sells gave WashU a 19-12 edge and the Bears closed the set out on a 4-1 run to go up 2-1 in the match.
 
After winning the third set 25-16, the tables were turned for the Bears in the fourth set, falling 16-25.
 
The Kowawks went up 5-1 but the Bears had a stretch of two points followed by three points to tie the set 6-6. Oyewole recorded two kills while Steinbach and Foster each had one.
 
WashU went up 14-11 before Coe scored six-straight for the 17-14 lead. The Kowawks followed with a seven-point run for a 24-15 advantage and Shelbi Hazlitt closed it out with a kill to force a fifth and final set.
 
The Bears opened the fifth set with the first three points, but Coe answered with seven-straight points to go up 7-3.
 
Down 13-9, the Bears scored the final six points of the match on kills from Gilroy, Foster and Sells (2) and a block from Sells.
 
The Bears edged the Kohawks in kills (59-51), blocks (10-9), assists (54-44) and digs (86-72).
 
WashU is back in action tomorrow with a pair of matches. At 11 a.m., the Bears face No. 2 Hope before taking on the host school, No. 7 University of Northwestern at 1 p.m.