NEW YORK, N.Y. – The No. 8 Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team dropped a pair of ranked matches on Saturday to kick off UAA conference action. The Bears took the opening set against No. 7 Emory before falling 3-1. They closed out the day with a back and forth match against No. 21 Case Western Reserve with the Spartans winning in a deciding fifth set.
Emory 3, WashU 1
With the score tied at 4-4 in the opening set, the Bears began to pull away with a pair of 3-0 runs. However, an Eagles 5-0 run tied the score back up at 11-11. WashU responded with a 4-0 run and never let the Eagles get closer than three before claiming the set 25-17.
The second was close early before an 11-1 run midway through the opener gave the Eagles a 17-6 lead over WashU. The teams traded points back and forth for the remainder of the set with EU keeping the distance for the 25-14 set two win.
WashU led for most of the third set until a 4-0 and a 3-0 run by the Eagles put Emory up 19-15. The Bears tied the score up three more times at 21-21, 22-22, and 23-23 before the Eagles claimed the final two points for the 25-23 set win and the 2-1 match lead.
The fourth set was a set of runs as WashU trailed early, 3-6 before a 4-0, capped by a kill by graduate Isabella Lipacis gave the Bears the 7-6 lead. The Eagles responded with a 6-0 to jump out in front 12-7. WashU would chip away at its deficit late, tying the set up at 23-23. Emory once again claimed the final two points for the 25-23 set four win and the match 3-1.
Sophomore Leah Oyewole led the Bears with a match-high 15 kills with a .444 hitting percentage. Senior Jasmine Sells also reached double-figures with 11 kills.
Junior Sam Buckley finished the match up with 40 assists while senior Elise Gilroy and Lipacis both finished in double-figure digs with 13 and 10, respectively.
Case Western Reserve 3, WashU 2
Like much of their earlier match, the first set against the Spartans was close with CWRU holding onto a narrow 10-9 lead. Trailing 15-11, the Bears went on a 7-0 run to take an 18-15 lead over their Ohio opponents. The Bears would earn the first set point of the match on a kill by graduate Lily Steinbach, 24-21. Four-straight points by the Spartans gave them their first attempt at the match lead before the teams went back and forth until they were tied at 27-27. A kill by Sells once again gave WashU a set point, but a 3-0 run by CWRU gave them the first set 30-28.
The second set was controlled by the Bears as WashU led in kills 15-9 with a .303 hitting percentage as a team. The Bears led by as many 10 at 23-13 late in the set before kills by Sells and senior Zoe Foster closed out the second set, 25-16, leveling the match at a set a piece.
It was once again nearly point-for-point and run-for-run for most of the third set before the Spartans slowly built a small five-point lead, 24-19. WashU scored twice more before CWRU closed out the set 25-21, taking a 2-1 match lead.
The Bears never trailed once in the fourth set, with only two ties at 1-1 and 2-2. A few early small runs pushed the WashU lead to as many as six at 10-4. The Spartans would get within two at 11-9, but the Bears pushed back and retook a five point lead at 15-10. CWRU would not get any closer than four points (20-16) before WashU scored four of the final five points, including kills by Oyewole and a block by Oyewole and Steinbach, giving the Bears the 25-17 set win and sending the match to a deciding fifth set.
Midway through the deciding set, with the Spartans leading 7-4, a quick run by WashU tied the score up a 7-7. A 5-0 run by CWRU pushed them ahead 12-7 and to a lead they would not give up. The Bears saved one match point 14-13, but the Spartans closed out the set with a kill, 15-13, taking the match 3-2.
Four different WashU players finished in double-figure kills, led by Sells' 19. Senior Lucy Davis and Steinbach each had 14 kills with Oyewole recording 13.
Buckley recorded a new career-high in assists with 63 against CWRU.
On the defensive side of the net four Bears also reached double-figure digs as senior Elise Gilroy had the team-high 20. Sells had a double-double as she finished with 15 digs to go along with her 19 kills. Sophomore Ellie Laird finished the contest with 12 digs and Buckley finished with 11.
The Bears wrap up action at the UAA Round Robin #1 in New York on Sunday when they take on the Rochester Yellowjackets at 10 a.m. ET.
