ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The No. 26 WashU volleyball team opened up the 2024 East-West Classic with a 3-0 sweep of Cal Lutheran in the final match of day one in the Varsity Gym. The Bears took big enough leads in each of the sets to prevent the Regals from attempting a comeback before closing out the match.

The first set saw Cal Lutheran play evenly with WashU, even taking a 7-5 lead early. The Bears responded with a quick 4-0 run, including a pair of kills by Lily Steinbach to take their own two-point lead, 9-7. With WashU holding onto a 13-11 lead, the Bears went on an 8-2 run to put themselves ahead 21-13. The final four points of the set went back and forth with the Regals committing a service error to allow WashU to go ahead 1-0.

The early part of the second set was much like the first with the teams all tied up at 5-5. WashU then went on a 9-1 run. With the Bears leading 20-11, the teams spent the final 10 points in a back and forth battle as Leah Oyewole getting a kill with the assist from Sam Buckley as WashU took the 2-0 match lead.

It was a game of runs early in the third set as both teams would claim leads after 4-0 scoring runs. With the Bears holding onto 18-12 and 19-15 leads, WashU closed out the Regals with a 6-1 run including three kills from McKenzie Washington, including two of the final three points.

Steinbach and Leah Oyewole both reach double-digit kills with 12 and 10, respectively to lead the Bears. Both finished with above .500 hitting percentage as Oyewole had a .667 and Steinbach closed out with a .526.

Buckley finished with the match-high 40 assists while Lucy Davis had five of the Bears 12 service aces.

WashU returns to the court in the morning with a 10:30 a.m. contest against Trinity before closing out the weekend against Tufts at 4:30 p.m.