ST. PAUL, Minn. – The No. 17 Washington University in St. Louis Bears dropped a pair of matches to two top-10 nationally ranked teams on Saturday afternoon. In a hard-fought five setter, WashU fell to No. 2 Hope 3-2 before losing to the host team, No. 7 University of Northwestern.
 
Match 1: No. 2 Hope 3, No. 17 WashU 2
Set 1 (25-17)
After falling behind 3-0 to start the set, the Bears went on to tie the game at 4-4. Following a Hope point, WashU put together a 5-0 run behind a service ace from Lucy Davis and kills from fifth year Lily Steinbach and senior Jasmine Sells to make it a 9-5 set.
 
The Flying Dutch eventually tied it at 10 and took an 11-10 edge over the Bears but WashU answered with three-straight including a pair of kills from sophomore Leah Oyewole to go up 13-11.
 
Up just one point, 16-15, The Bears went on a 5-0 run behind two kills from Davis and one from Steinbach, extending the lead to 21-15.
 
The Bears closed out the first set on a 4-2 run and notched final point on a block from Foster and junior Sam Buckley.
 
Set 2 (25-21)
WashU took a slight 2-1 lead to open the second set on kills from Oyewole and Davis. Following that, the teams exchanged points and were eventually tied 4-4. The Bears created a slight separation with two-straight points to go up 6-4 and then again with a three-point run behind two kills from Foster and one from Sells to make it a 9-5 set.
 
The Bears largest run of the game put them again 14-8, following kills from Davis, Steinbach and Sells as well as a block from Steinbach/Davis.
 
The Flying Dutch closed it to 15-12 and went on to make it a 17-16 set.
 
WashU continued to hold on to a several-point lead, going up 20-17 behind kills from Foster and two from Sells. Points from Sells and Steinbach brought the Bears within set point, 24-20 and a kill from Steinbach closed out the set 25-21.
 
Set 3 (17-25)
The Flying Dutch took a quick 2-0 edge to begin the third set and went up 4-1 early. Following a Bears' point, Hope added another three points to make it a 7-2 set.
 
After going down 13-8, the Bears scored three-straight points behind kills from Davis and Steinbach and a block by Steinbach/Oyewole to cut it to two points, 13-11.
 
The Flying Dutch went up five points after scoring three-straight and closed out the set with a 4-0 run to make it a 2-1 match.
 
Set 4 (22-25)
WashU came out to score the first three points of the set on kills from Sells, Oyewole and Davis. Hope answered with four-straight to take a 4-3 lead but the Bears grabbed the lead back with two points from Davis.
 
The Bears maintained as much as a three-point lead until Hope went on a 4-0 run that resulted in a 17-16 edge. WashU answered with a 3-0 run on points from Steinbach, Sells and Isabella Lipacis to go up 19-17.
 
Hope scored three in a row to take a one-point, 20-19, lead. The set went on to be tied at 20 and 21 before Hope scored two to take a 23-21 lead. Foster scored a point for the Bears to cut it back down to one but the Flying Dutch closed it out with two points to tie the match up 2-2.
 
Set 5 (12-15)
The set opened with several point exchanges and neither team opened up a gap until Hope scored three in a row to take a 6-3 edge.
 
The Bears used points from Sells and two Hope attacking errors to tie things up 7-7. Kills from Sells and Foster and a service ace from Buckley gave the Bears a 10-8 lead.
 
Hope answered with a three-point run for an 11-10 lead but a Sells point tied it up at 11 apiece.
 
The Flying Dutch added two points for the 13-11 lead and closed things out with two points to secure the set and the match.
 
Davis led the Bears' attacking efforts with 16 kills while Sells and Foster each had 14. Steinbach also reached double-digits with 12 kills.
 
Buckley finished with a team-high 56 assists and Elise Gilroy recorded 25 digs.
 
Match 2: No. 7 UNW 3, No. 17 WashU 0
Set 1 (23-25)
UNW took an early 3-1 and built it up to 5-2. The Bears pulled within one, 6-5, following a pair of kills from Steinbach and Foster.
 
The Eagles extended the lead to 8-5 and then 11-6 following three-straight points.
 
Oyewole put down back-to-back kills to make it 11-8 and the Bears pulled within three points, 14-11 following UNW service and attacking errors.
 
Down 19-16, the Bears went on a 4-0 run to take a 20-19 set, using two kills from Oyewole and a kill from Davis as well as an attacking error from UNW.
 
After tying it up at 20, the Eagles scored three-straight to take a 23-21 edge. From there, the teams exchanged points, making it a 24-23 set before UNW's Ari Schmidt put down a kill to give the Eagles the first set.
 
Set 2 (22-25)
UNW came out to score the first four points of the second set and ultimately built up a 7-1 lead over the Bears. WashU had three blocks in a row from Davis/Steinbach, Buckley/Steinbach and Sells/Steinbach to close the deficit to 8-5.
 
The Eagles extended their lead to 12-6 after scoring three-straight and went up 15-8 after three more points. The Bears recorded three points in a row on a block from Foster/Oyewole and back-to-back kills from McKenzie Washington to cut the deficit to 16-12.
 
After remaining down by at least three points, the Bears made it a two-point set with a point from Foster and a service ace from Buckley. Following a UNW attacking error and a kill from Washington, the Bears were within one point, 21-20.
 
The Eagles went back up by three, 23-20 but points from Foster and Steinbach made it a one-point, 23-22 set again.
 
UNW used two Bears' attacking errors to close out the second set and go up 2-0 in the match.
 
Set 3 (18-25)
The Eagles took a 3-1 lead to open the third set before the Bears ultimately tied it at 4-4 on a kill from Lipacis.
 
UNW built an 8-5 edge with two kills and a service ace but the Bears quickly pulled even following a kill from Sells plus a service and attacking error from UNW.
 
The Eagles created some space with three-straight points to go up 12-9 and extended it to 14-10. Two points from the Bears on a kill from Tori Taylor and a block from Washington/Steinbach made it 14-12.
 
The teams continued to exchange points for the next few possessions until the Bears' added two in a row to cut UNW's lead to 18-16.
 
The Eagles went on a 5-0 run to extend their lead to 23-16 and kills from Miranda Wyatt and Abby Glanzer closed out the set and the match.
 
Foster and Oyewole each had seven kills apiece. Gilroy recorded 17 digs and Buckley finished with 32 assists.
The Bears are back in action next weekend at home as they host the East-to-West Battle. They will take on California Lutheran, No. 8 Trinity and (RV) Tufts.
 
2024 Kathryne Pals Legacy Invitational All-Tournament Team
Lauren Lee (Hope) *MVP
Addie VanderWeide (Hope)
Maddy Maahs (Coe)
Abby Glanzer (UNW)
Zoe Foster (WashU)