CHICAGO, Ill. – With three more weeks until the UAA Tournament, the No. 13 Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team took on their final two conference opponents on Sunday in Brandeis and No. 12 Emory as part of the UAA Round Robin #3.

Outside of the matches, senior Sam Buckley, a three-time All-American and reigning UAA Athlete of the Year, achieved a pair of milestones in the first match against the Judges. Buckley first broke the nearly 20-year career assists record set by Stephanie Habif back in 1996 with 4,995 assists. The other mark Buckley notched was becoming the first player in program history to reach 5,000 career assists. She finished the match against Brandeis with 5,003 assists and will continue to add more throughout the rest of the season.

WashU 3, Brandeis 0

WashU looked poised to get back on its winning ways against the Judges on Sunday, and that is exactly what they did. The Bears continuously got stronger as the match went on, en route to a 3-0 sweep of Brandeis in the first match of the day.

Despite taking the early lead in the first set, WashU was not able to pull away early from the Judges, leading by no more than two until a 3-0 run put the Bears ahead 12-8. Small runs by WashU increased their lead to as many as six at 17-11, but the Judges did not go away, getting back to within three on multiple occasions. The Bears would get their first set point to go up by six, 24-18, and would capitalize on a kill by junior Naya Ohuabunwa three points later for the 25-20 set one win.

Leading 1-0 in the match, WashU scored the first four points, but the Judges once again would not let the Bears go up any higher early in the set. Brandeis got back, much like the first set, within two points on multiple occasions, the last being at 10-8, before WashU used a pair of 3-0 runs and a pair of 4-0 runs to take a 24-12 lead. Brandeis finally responded with their own 4-0 run, forcing the Bears to call a timeout. It proved to be the right call as once again Ohuabunwa took a pass from Buckley for a kill to take a 2-0 match lead, winning the second set 25-16.

The third set saw the Judges take an early 2-1 lead. However, WashU responded with a 6-0 run to go up by five, 7-2. It was a deficit that Brandeis could not overcome. Leading by three at 11-8, the Bears went on an 8-1 scoring stretch to take their largest lead of the match until the final point, 19-9. This set saw WashU take advantage of its first set point opportunity to score a service ace by first-year Isabel Campie, 25-14.

Ohuabunwa and junior Leah Oyewole had the top two kill totals in the match with 12 and 11, respectively. Buckley finished the contest with 32 assists to reach that 5,003 mark. Her total was nearly double the number of assists for the Judges (17). Junior Ellie Laird was the lone Bear or Judge to reach double-figure digs with 10.

WashU 3, Emory 2

Playing their final UAA contest of the regular season, the Bears knew they wanted to get a good seeding going into the UAA tournament in three weeks. After dropping the first two sets, WashU made a big comeback to claim the final three sets and secure the #2 seed when all the conference teams travel to Brandeis in three weeks, with a spot in the NCAA Tournament on the line.

The first set against the Eagles was nearly a pure back-and-forth battle with the Bears. Not only did the teams trade leads throughout, but it was also not until Emory took an 18-15 lead that either squad had more than a two-point advantage. WashU responded to its biggest deficit with a 5-0 run to jump back ahead 20-18. The Eagles would collect the first set point and the second, but the Bears responded both times. It was not until the third that Emory was finally able to claim the opening set, 27-25, for the 1-0 match lead.

The Eagles used the momentum to jump out to a quick 7-0 lead over WashU in the second set, eventually leading by eight at 9-1. The Bears answered in a big way, scoring the next 11 points to take their own three-point lead at 12-9. Eventually, WashU took a 16-11 lead before the Eagles would tie the score up at 17-17, 18-18, and 19-19. The two teams then went back and forth with Emory eventually capitalizing on their second set point, 26-24, to take a 2-0 match lead.

Starting from the first points of the third set, WashU would slowly build its lead up to as many as six on a kill by first-year Nia Jones, 13-7, midway through the set. The Eagles attempted to chip away at the lead as best they could, getting back within two points at 19-17. However, WashU scored six of the final eight points, including their first set point, to cut the match lead down to 2-1 after winning the third set 25-19.

The first few points of the fourth set went back-and-forth between the teams with Emory taking the slimmest 4-3 lead. The Bears, wanting to push to a fifth set, went on a 6-1 run to take a 9-5 lead. Scoring then went back to nearly point for point with WashU holding a 14-10 advantage over the highest-ranked team in the UAA. A 5-1 run by WashU saw their lead bloom to 19-11.

After a single Eagle point, the Bears closed out the set with six unanswered points, including five straight kills by Oyewole, to level the match at a set apiece, 2-2 with a 25-12 set four win.

The early portion of the deciding fifth set was much like the start of the fourth. Emory went ahead with a slim lead and was answered by the Bears. The teams would trade ends of the court after the Eagles took an 8-5 lead. Emory would push their lead up to four at 11-7, but WashU responded with a pair of 3-0 runs to retake the lead late, 13-12.

The Eagles tied the set up at 13-13 to force a race to two. An Emory attack error gave the Bears a match point at 14-13 before Emory saved it with a kill. WashU would get a second set point after a kill by Ohuabunwa and would complete the reverse sweep, comeback with an Eagle attack error, 16-14.

As a team, the Bears led Emory in kills (72-62), blocks (12-6), assists (68-60), and digs (97-90). Oyewole led WashU for the second straight match with 28 kills, leading three Bears in double-figure kills (first-year Abby Krause – 13, Ohuabunwa – 11). Buckley added 60 more assists to her career-leading number and now has 5,063 and counting.

Senior Eva Boling led the Bears with six total blocks while Ohuabunwa added five blocks, Jones notched four blocks, and Buckley tallied three total blocks. Five different Bears reached double-figure digs, led by Laird's 27 digs. Buckley (18), Campie (15), Krause (13), and first-year Avery Reed (10) also reached the double-digit mark in digs.

Both Buckley (60 assists, 18 digs) and Krause (13 kills, 13 digs) recorded double-doubles against the Eagles. For Buckley, it was her seventh double-double of the season while for Krause, it was her first career double-double.

WashU will be able to enjoy these wins for a week before hitting the road to take on Greenville on Wednesday, Nov. 5. The return contest with the Panthers is scheduled for 7 p.m. at H.J. Long Gym in Greenville. Earlier this season, the Bears earned a 3-0 win over GU (25-14, 25-15, 25-20).

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