GREENCASTLE, Ind. – The No. 3 Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team picked up a pair of 3-1 wins over Millikin and DePauw on Saturday afternoon on the road. WashU improves to 23-3 with one match left in the regular season.
WashU 3, Millikin 1
The Bears jumped out to a hot start in the first set, leading 5-1. A slow and steady chip away by the Big Blue saw them eventually tie the score at 14-14 midway through the set. Millikin would tie again at 16-16 and 17-17, but WashU went on an 8-1 run to end the first set, 25-18.
The second set was controlled by Millikin. Leading 4-3, the Big Blue scored the next eight points to take a 12-3 lead. A 7-0 run and 7-1 run eventually tied the match at a set apiece after Millikin won the second set 25-7.
The Big Blue looked to carry the momentum into the third set, as they took a 5-2 lead. The Bears eventually caught up and took a 9-8 lead on a kill by senior Leah Oyewole. Then, trailing 11-10, WashU went on a 6-1 run to pull ahead by four, 16-12.
Millikin would eventually get back within three at 22-19, but a service error, a kill by Oyewole, and a Big Blue attack error gave the Bears the match lead again, 2-1, after winning the third set 25-19.
WashU would stake itself to a small lead early before Millikin used a 6-1 stretch to jump ahead by three, 16-13. The Big Blue would push it to 19-15, but WashU answered with four straight points to tie it at 19-19. The Bears regained the lead at 22-21 and gave themselves a match point at 24-21.
Millikin saved two match points, but a kill by senior Naya Ohuabunwa sealed the set, 25-23, and the match, 3-1.
Ohuabunwa finished with the match-high 14 kills, with Oyewole adding 13. First-year Anya Mikhailenko had 41 assists on the 52 WashU kills. Both senior Ellie Laird and sophomore Isabel Campie finished with 13 digs each.
WashU 3, DePauw 1
The first set between the Tigers and Bears saw a series of point-for-point and multiple-point runs by both teams. With the score tied at 18-18, it was the Tigers that blinked first as WashU took advantage and scored six of the next seven points to go up 24-19.
After the Tigers saved one set point, sophomore Nia Jones closed out the first set with a kill, 25-20.
An early 3-0 run by the Bears in the second set saw them take an 8-6 lead. WashU pushed it up to five at 14-9, but the following 8-1 run did the real damage against DePauw in the set as WashU pushed ahead for a 22-11 lead.
Still up by 11 at 24-13, WashU saw the Tigers score three straight points, but it was a kill from Jones that once again closed out the set, 25-16, and gave the Bears a 2-0 match lead.
The third set saw WashU take a small lead and hold it throughout most of the set as a Tiger attack error saw the Bears lead 18-17. But eight points in a row for DePauw saw the Tigers take the set 25-18 and get back within one set, 2-1.
WashU never trailed in the fourth set as they led 3-0 and then, after the score was tied 3-3, went on a 7-0 run to pull away 10-3. Only one time the rest of the set did either team score more than two points in a row, and that was when WashU led 15-10 and scored three consecutive points with a kill by Jones and back-to-back blocks by Jones and Ohuabunwa, and Jones and sophomore Abby Krause.
The closest the Tigers got was six, with the Bears closing out the set 25-16 on a kill by Oyewole, taking the match 3-1.
Once again, Ohuabunwa and Oyewole led in kills with 14 each against DePauw. Mikhailenko dished out 46 assists while Jones finished with eight blocks and seven kills.
Four Bears finished in double-figure digs, led by Laird's 22 digs. Krause finished with 17 and nearly had a double-double with eight kills. Mikhailenko did have herself another double-double with 15 digs, and Campie finished with 11 digs.
WashU wraps up the regular season on Sunday, Nov. 8, when they make the short trip from Greencastle to Terre Haute, Ind., for a match at Rose-Hulman. First serve with the Fightin' Engineers is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.
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