No. 1 Washington University Volleyball Gets Past Webster, 3-0
BOX SCORE
St. Louis, Mo., October 3, 2012 – The No. 1-ranked Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team earned its fourth-straight win with a sweep at Webster University (25-12, 25-21, 29-27) on Wednesday night.
The Washington U. attackers were on fire in the opening set, posting a .429 hitting percentage (20-5-35), including nine kills by senior outside hitter Drew Hargrave to give the Bears a 25-12 win in the first set. In the second set, Webster picked up its defensive intensity and took advantage of several Washington U. errors to take a 15-14 lead. Kills by freshman right-side hitter Allison Zastrow and freshman middle hitter Jackie Nelligan gave the Bears a 16-15 lead. Washington U. pushed its lead to three (22-19) after a kill by Nelligan and an ace by freshman defensive specialist Anna Bryniarski, before earning the 25-21 win.
In the third set, Washington U. had seven hitting errors on its first 26 swings as the Gorloks jumped out to a 17-12 lead. Webster maintained the five-point lead at 19-14, but an 8-0 run by the Bears behind strong serving by senior libero Kelly Pang put Washington U. back on top, 22-19. A hitting error by the Gorloks gave Washington U. match point at 24-22, but Webster notched back-to-back kills to tie the score, 24-24. The teams traded the next six points, before kills by Hargrave and freshman outside hitter Nkiru Udenze gave Washington U. the 29-27 third-set win to end the match.
Hargrave tallied a team-high 21 kills, while hitting .395 (21-4-43) on the night. Udenze added 11 kills, while Zastrow finished with eight kills on 17 swings from the middle hitter position. Senior setter Marilee Fisher recorded 41 assists and seven digs. Pang led the Bears with 18 digs, while Bryniarski finished with 14 and Zastrow added 11.
Washington University (17-1, 3-0 UAA) hosts the Bears Classic on Friday-Saturday, Oct. 5-6, at the WU Field House. The Bears are scheduled to face Knox College at 5:15 and Central College at 7:30 on Friday night, before taking on Monmouth College at 12:15 and Westminster College at 2:30 on Saturday afternoon. Friday evening’s match against Central will also be Washington U.’s “Dig for Pink” night to promote breast cancer awareness and raise money for the Siteman Cancer Center.
Bear Notebook: Washington U. leads the all-time series against Webster, 21-0 … It was the 10th double-digit kill match of the season for Hargrave, and her third match with 20-plus kills … Pang increased her Washington University career digs record to 2,205.