Top-Ranked Volleyball Sweeps Brandeis to win 2010 University Athletic Association Opener

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Atlanta, Ga., October 2, 2010 – The No. 1 Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team returned from a two-week break from action to pick up a 3-0 win over Brandeis University in its University Athletic Association (UAA) opener on Saturday, Oct. 2, at the Woodruff P.E. Center in Atlanta, Ga.

The Bears were led offensively by a trio of attackers in freshman outside hitter Meghan Byrne, sophomore outside Drew Hargrave and freshman right side Tessa Blood. Byrne tallied a team-high 11 kills while hitting .364, while Hargrave hit .318 and also reached double figures in kills with 10. Blood was the most efficient attacker of the day for the Red and Green, as she connected on six of her eight swings with no errors in two sets of action.

Washington University needed a set to shake the rust off against Brandeis, trailing the Judges 19-15 in the opening frame. The Bears steadily got back into the match, tying the score at 19-19 on a Byrne kill and taking a 20-19 lead to cap off a 5-0 when sophomore setter Marilee Fisher and freshman middle hitter Emily Tulloch blocked down a Si-Si Hensley attack.

Brandeis errors accounted for three of the Bears’ five points down the stretch as Washington U. went on to pick up a two-point win.

Led by Blood’s four kills the Bears took the second set by 11 points, 25-14, hitting .484 as a team while tallying 16 total kills, and the Red and Green limited Brandeis to a -.182 hitting percentage in the third set.

Fisher notched 31 assists to go along with four kills, five digs and a pair of block assists. Sophomore libero Kelly Pang tallied a team-high 14 digs and three service aces.

Washington U. (15-0, 1-0 UAA) returns to action on Sunday, Oct. 3, when it continues play at the first UAA round robin of the season in Atlanta, Ga. The Bears will face the University of Rochester at 10 a.m. (ET), and No. 19 University of Chicago at 12 p.m. (ET).