Kelly Pang Breaks Single-Match Digs Record as No. 1 Bears Split Matches at UAA Round Robin
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Pittsburgh, Pa., October 13, 2012 – Senior libero Kelly Pang broke her own single-match school record for digs as the No. 1-ranked Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team dropped a five-set match (22-25, 25-23, 25-14, 26-28, 12-15) to No. 12 University of Chicago at the second University Athletic Association (UAA) Round Robin on Saturday afternoon. The Bears bounced back with a sweep (25-20, 25-12, 25-14) of New York University.
Pang tallied 47 digs in the loss to Chicago, smashing her own single-match record by 11. Her previous record of 36 digs was set against Emory University on Oct. 16, 2011. Pang’s 47 digs also tied her for the second most by any Division III player, and fourth among all divisions this season.
#1 Washington U. 2, #12 Chicago 3
After rallying to win the fourth set, Chicago jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the fifth set. Washington U. answered and appeared to steal the momentum with a 7-0 run to take an 11-9 lead. A pair of errors by the Bears brought the Maroons even (11-11), before a kill by junior outside hitter Meghan Byrne gave Washington U. a 12-11 lead. Chicago then scored the final four points of the set to seal the upset win.
Chicago jumped out to a 9-3 lead to open the first set, before Washington U. rallied to take its first lead at 17-16 on a tip over three blockers by freshman middle hitter Jackie Nelligan. The Bears maintained the lead until a Chicago kill knotted the score again at 20-20. A serving error by Chicago gave the Bears a 22-21 lead, but three kills by the Maroons and a hitting error by Washington U. gave Chicago a 25-22 opening-set win.
In the second set, Washington U. hit just .040, but used five blocks to even the match at one set apiece. Chicago again took an early lead, before the Bears took an 11-10 lead on a kill by senior outside hitter Drew Hargrave. The Maroons tied the score at 11-11 before Washington U. reeled off five-straight points, including two more kills by Hargrave. Chicago tied the score twice more (22-22 and 23-23) in the set, but a kill by freshman right-side hitter Allison Zastrow and an attacking error by the Maroons gave the Bears the 25-23 win.
The Bears finally got on track offensively in the third set, hammering 15 kills with just one error on 32 swings for a .438 hitting percentage in the set. With the score tied 6-6, Washington U. went on a 10-3 run to grab a 16-9 lead on a block by Zastrow and junior middle hitter Kaia Schwartz. The Maroons got as close as five points (17-12), but back-to-back kills by Hargrave finished the set giving the Bears a 25-14 win. In the fourth set, Washington U. held a 14-13 lead before going on a five-point run to open up a 19-13 lead on an ace serve by sophomore defensive specialist Lauren Yung. The Maroons answered with an 8-1 run to turn the deficit into a 21-20 lead. The teams traded points to 26-26, before a hitting error by Washington U. and a kill by Chicago gave the Maroons a 28-26 win to force a fifth set.
Washington U. hit just .176 (55-21-193) in the match, marking just the second time this season the Bears have been held below .200. The Bears were also whistled for 10 ball-handling errors, and had 10 serving errors in the loss. Hargrave was the leading attacker for Washington U., finishing with 19 kills, while Byrne added 14. Senior setter Marilee Fisher tallied 43 assists and nine digs. In addition to Pang’s 47 digs, junior defensive specialist Tanya Marvi added 13 and Yung posted a career-high 12. Zastrow also added eight kills and nine digs for the Bears.
#1 Washington U. 3, New York U. 0
About 30 minutes after the disappointing loss to Chicago, Washington U. bounced back to cruise to a sweep of New York University. The Bears hit .347 and recorded six service aces to win 25-20, 25-12, 25-14 in the match.
Junior middle hitter Emily Tulloch led the Bears offensively with 10 kills on 13 swings (.769 hitting percentage).Hargrave added nine kills, while junior right-side hitter Tessa Blood finished with eight kills on 17 attacks (.471) and a season-high seven digs. Zastrow recorded 19 assists in two sets, while Fisher tallied 14 assists while playing the opening set. Marvi posted a team-high 16 digs, and Pang added nine, while Yung finished with eight.
Washington University (22-2, 4-1 UAA) completes its regular-season conference schedule with two matches on Sunday. The Bears will take on host Carnegie Mellon University at 10 a.m. (ET), before facing No. 6 Emory at 2 p.m. (ET). Carnegie Mellon swept University of Rochester and lost to Case Western Reserve University in Saturday’s action, while Emory earned wins over Rochester and Case to move into first-place in the conference standings.
Bear Notebook: Washington U. dropped to 35-1 all-time against Chicago, while improving to 41-2 all-time against NYU … The loss to Chicago was just the seventh for the Bears in the 25 years that the UAA round robins have been played (169-7) … Pang improved her Washington University career digs record to 2,302 … Hargrave moved into 10th on the Washington University all-time career attacks list with 2,837.