OSHKOSH, Wis. -- The No. 10 Washington University volleyball team wrapped up action for the weekend at the Marty Peterson Invitational with a pair of 3-2 wins on Saturday afternoon in Oshkosh. The Bears improve to 6-1 on the season with the two five-set thrillers over No. 14 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Wis.-Stevens Point.

In the first match of the day against the Athenas, senior Sam Buckley tallied her 1,000th career dig and became just the second player in program history (Lori Nishikawa) to join the 2,500 assists-1,000 digs club. After the second match against the Pointers, she now has 1,020 career digs.

WashU 3, CMS 2

The Bears dropped the opening set before taking a 2-1 lead over the Athenas on Saturday afternoon. After CMS leveled the match at a set apiece, WashU held strong in the decisive fifth set to seal the 3-2 win.

In the first set, neither team seemed to be able to pull away from the other as CMS would lead by no more than three at 14-11. The Bears would tie the set up four times, including on a kill from first-year Abby Krause who saved a set point with CMS leading 24-23. The Athenas would concede a chance for the Bears to claim the set, but three straight points for CMS closed out the first set in favor of the team from California.

The second set saw CMS jump out to a 6-1 lead before the Bears slowly whittled away at the lead, eventually tying the score up at 19-19 late. WashU used a 4-0 run that included three kills from senior Anna Freeman to take a 23-20 lead. The Athenas pulled within one at 24-23, but a kill by junior Leah Oyewole leveled the match at one set apiece.

Runs were the name of the set early on with both teams using runs of at least four points to keep the match close. The Bears would lead by as many as four at 21-17 before CMS would collect a set point at 24-23. The teams then traded set points before a kill from senior Eva Boling and a block by Boling and senior Naya Ohuabunwa gave WashU a 2-1 match lead.

The fourth set was all CMS as the Athenas used several large scoring runs to level the match at 2-2 with a 25-7 set four win.

In the deciding fifth set, CMS would take a 6-5 lead midway through. However, a 5-0 run by the Bears would see them take a 10-6 lead, a lead they would not give up as the team went point-for-point the rest of the way with WashU claiming the 15-11 set five win.

Three Bears reached double-figure kills with Oyewole leading the way with 16 kills. Freeman finished with 15 and Ohuabunwa scored 12 kills.

Buckley had her second double-double of the season with 53 assists and 13 digs. She was just one of five on the WashU roster in double-figure digs. Junior Ellie Laird had the team-high 35 digs while first-year Isabel Campie (18), Krause (17), and first-year Avery Reed (15) joined Buckley in the two-digit digs list.

WashU 3, UWSP 2

In the final match of the weekend, WashU had a 2-1 set lead before controlling the deciding fifth set for a 3-2 win over the Pointers.

UWSP had a run of eight, and the Bears had a seven-point run in the first set that saw WashU take a slim 16-15 lead. Eventually retaking the lead, UWSP would push its advantage to as many as three before claiming the first set 25-23 on a service error.

The second set saw the Pointers take a slim lead before a 5-0 run by WashU saw the Bears take the lead for good with a 12-9 advantage. UWSP would trail by as many as six and get as close as one, but a kill by Freeman tied the match at 1-1 with a 25-23 set two win for WashU.

The Bears never trailed in the third set, jumping out to a quick 9-2 lead. The Pointers did not reach double digits in scoring until the Bears had a 19-10 lead. WashU only allowed one more point in the set as they took a 2-1 match lead with a 25-11 set three win.

After WashU took a 7-4 lead early, the Pointers used a 4-0 run to take their first lead. After giving it up to WashU, they would retake it at 11-10 and never give it up en route to a 25-16 set four win, setting up a second five-set match on the day for WashU.

The Bears opened the final set with a 6-0 stretch. After trading ends of the court with WashU leading 8-3, the Bears scored two more times before a 4-0 run pulled the Pointers within 3 at 10-7. A 3-0 run by WashU stopped the UWSP momentum as the Pointers would not reach double digits as the Bears used a kill from Boling to seal their second five-set win of the day, 25-9.

As a team, WashU led in points (75-63), kills (56-51), aces (11-8), blocks (8-4), and assists (55-46).

Freeman led the Bears with 16 kills while Oyewole and junior Anaia Montaque-Harrison finished with 14 and 10 kills, respectively.

Buckley had her second double-double of the day with 49 assists and 11 digs. Laird once again led the Bears with 29 digs while Krause also reached the 20-dig plateau, finishing with 23 digs. Campie was the fourth Bear to reach double-digit digs with 12.

WashU is back home next Saturday, Sept. 13, when it hosts Hendrix at 1 p.m. and Greenville at 3:30 p.m. All matches will take place inside the Field House and be streamed through FloSports.

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