SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The No. 13 Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team picked up a pair of wins on Friday at Trinity's Tiger Classic, beating No. 18 Johns Hopkins 3-1 and St. Thomas (TX) 3-0. The Bears improve to 7-2 on the season.
WashU 3, Johns Hopkins 1 (25-14, 25-20, 22-25, 25-12)
The Bears bookended the match with 10+-point wins to earn their third ranked win in a row over the Blue Jays.
WashU started the first set off with a 3-0 run before JHU pulled within one point, 4-3. A kill from senior
Leah Oyewole start off a 4-0 run for WashU with sophomore
Nia Jones putting down back-to-back kills for an 8-3 lead.
The Bears continued to produce offensively, putting together another 5-0 run which included a block from senior
Naya Ohuabunwa and first-year
Saoirse Henderson.
WashU closed out the first set with kills from Oyewole and first-year
Anya Mikhailenko to claim it 25-14.
The Bears came out to score the first two points in the first set but the Blue Jays tied it up at 3-3. The set was tied 12 more times before WashU finally came away with it.
A kill from Oyewole made it a 17-17 set which was the final tie of the set. Senior
Ellie Laird followed with a service ace and Ohuabunwa and Jones registered a block to give WashU a 19-17 edge.
The Bears scored the final five points for a 25-20 win, going up 2-0 in the match.
The Blue Jays stopped a Bears' sweep with a win in the third set, 25-22. After Hopkins scored the first point of the set, the Bears quickly tied it up with a kill by Henderson. After JHU tied it again, WashU went on a 5-0 run to take a 7-2 edge.
Three-straight from Hopkins closed it to a two-point, 7-5 set but the Bears extended it to 12-7. A 4-0 run from the Blue Jays cut WashU's lead to 13-12 and the game was tied up at 14-15.
Following the tie, the Blue Jays scored two in a row and built up a five-pint, 23-18 lead with four points in a row. The Bears scored four points to make it a one-point 23-22 match but Hopkins closed it out with two points to claim the set.
With the first set tied at 1-1, the Bears went on a 4-0 run to go up 5-1. Continuing to hold a small lead, WashU put together another 4-0 run, stretching the advantage to 11-4. The Blue Jays answered with three points in a row, but they weren't able to string together any runs larger than that.
Ultimately, WashU scored the final two points on kills from Oyewole and Jones for a 25-12 set, winning the match.
Oyewole led the Bears with 16 kills while Jones had nine and sophomore
Abby Krause had eight. Laird recorded four aces on the day while Mikhailenko had three for a career high. Ohuabunwa finished with six blocks and Jones had five.
Mikhailenko had a team-high 36 assists. Laird finished with 13 digs and Krause had 12.
WashU 3, St. Thomas 0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-17)
The Celts went up 3-2 in the opening minutes of the match but the Bears put together three points in a row for a 5-3 advantage. Kills from Oyewole, Jones and Krause extended WashU's lead to 10-5.
After St. Thomas made it an 11-8 set, a kill from Krause started a 4-0 run and Ohuabunwa and Henderson registered a block en route to a 15-8 lead. Another four-point run from the Bears made it a double-digit, 19-9 lead for WashU.
At set point, St. Thomas scored four-straight to cut it to 24-17, but a final kill from Krause closed out the set with a Bears' win.
Set two started in similar fashion to the first set with the Celts going up 3-2. Kills from Henderson and Oyewole plus an attacking error from St. Thomas made it a 5-3 set in favor of the Bears before St. Thomas tied it up at 5-5.
WashU scored four-in-a-row including kills from Jones and Oyewole as well as another block from Oyewole, putting the Bears ahead 9-5.
WashU continued to hold a four-to-five point lead and closed out the set with five-straight points, including two kills from Krause for the last two.
The Bears opened the final set on a 3-0 run. Following a point from St. Thomas, WashU scored another three points in a row to go up 6-1 early. The Celts put together three points in a row, cutting the score to 6-4.
The teams continued to exchange points. Up three, WashU scored four-straight including two kills from Jones to take a 23-16 lead. Another two kills from Krause closed out the set and the match with the Bears victory.
Krause led the Bears with a double-double of 14 kills and 11 digs while Oyewole also had 14 kills. Mikhailenko notched 39 assists and Laird finished 20 digs.
The Bears wrap up action in Texas tomorrow with a match against host team No. 3 Trinity at 11 a.m.
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Elevating scholar-champions requires resources beyond the institutional budget. Through the W Club, generous alumni, parents, and friends provide unrestricted support that is essential to the extraordinary WashU student-athlete experience—and the ongoing growth and development of the department. Annual support for Athletics allows the Bears to consistently rise to national levels of competition and ensures that our student-athletes enjoy exceptional opportunities as they train, compete, and lead. To make a gift to the Annual Fund for Athletics, please visit our secure online giving form or contact the Athletics Advancement Office at athletics@wustl.edu.
