ATLANTA, Ga. – The No. 16 Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team closed out the East-West Classic with a statement win as the Bears picked up the 3-0 sweep of No. 4 East Texas Baptist on Saturday afternoon in Atlanta.
With the win, WashU improves to 5-2 overall after going 2-1 this weekend.
Like many times already this season, WashU jumped out to a quick lead over the Tigers, starting the first set with a 7-1 stretch, capped by a kill from senior
Leah Oyewole. The closest ETBU would get the rest of the set was four, as the Bears used another late 6-1 run to give themselves a set point at 24-14.
Not allowing the Tigers back in, senior
Naya Ohuabunwa got a kill off an assist from first-year
Anya Mikhailenko to close out the set 25-17.
The second set started off much like the first, with WashU taking a 7-2 lead to start and extending it to seven at 10-3. The lead grew to as many as nine on a kill from Oyewole at 16-7 before the Tigers slowly got back within three at 21-18. After a WashU point, ETBU scored twice to cut the lead all the way down to 22-20. However, a kill from sophomore
Abby Krause, a kill from Ohuabunwa, and a block from Ohuabunwa and first-year
Saoirse Henderson would close out the set and give the Bears the 2-0 match lead.
WashU once again started off strong in the third with a 4-1 advantage and would see that grow into a 10-4 lead. After seeing the lead move to seven, the Tigers went on a 6-1 run to get back within just two points at 14-12.
The teams then went back and forth, with neither team able to score more than two points in a row before ETBU scored three to get back within three at 23-20. But that was the stopping point for the top-five Tigers, as kills from
Oyewole and sophomore
Nia Jones closed out the sweep, 25-20, in three sets.
Krause and Oyewole led the offense for WashU as they both reached double figures in kills with 11 and 10, respectively. Mikhailenko secured her third double-double of the weekend and fourth in a row overall with 34 assists and 10 digs.
As a team, the Bears led in kills (41-35), service aces (5-1), blocks (9-7), and assists (38-33). The teams were tied with 50 digs each.
WashU remains on the road next weekend when it travels to San Antonio for Trinity's Tiger Classic. The Bears open with a pair of matches on Friday, Sept. 18; first against No. 9 Johns Hopkins at 11 a.m. before taking on the University of St. Thomas at 3 p.m. Then on Saturday, Sept. 19, WashU faces its highest-ranked team of the season in No. 2 and host Trinity at 11 a.m.
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