No. 1 Washington U. Serves Past Knox, Central at Bears Classic

KNOX BOX SCORE

CENTRAL BOX SCORE

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St. Louis, Mo., October 5, 2012 – The No. 1-ranked Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team combined for 25 ace serves in a pair of sweeps against Knox College (25-9, 25-7, 25-12) and Central College (25-12, 25-18, 25-12) on Friday night at the Bears Classic.

#1 Washington U. 3, Knox 0
The Bears cruised to a three-set win over Knox behind 20 ace serves, including eight by freshman setter Cassie Wang. Washington U. led 6-5 in the opening set before going on a 15-2 run that included three ace serves by senior setter Marilee Fisher to open up a 21-7 lead. Sophomore defensive specialist Lauren Yung finished the set with an ace to give the Bears the 25-9 win.

Washington U. jumped out to a 20-4 lead in the second set before earning the 25-7 win to go up 2-0 in the match. In the third set, Wang served the Bears into a 10-0 lead, including eight aces. The 10-0 run to open the set also included a solo block by sophomore middle hitter Maddy Morris and a block by Morris and junior right-side hitter Tessa Blood. Knox was unable to cut the lead to less than nine points the remainder of the set as the Bears earned a 25-12 win to close the match.

The Bears hit .429 (32-8-56) as a team in the match. Senior outside hitter Drew Hargrave finished with a team-best eight kills on 12 swings, as 12 different Washington U. players recorded kills in the match. Wang had 18 assists, while Fisher recorded seven. Senior libero Kelly Pang tallied a team-high seven digs.

#1 Washington U. 3, Central 0
In Washington U.’s second match of the night, the Bears overpowered Central College with another strong offensive performance. Washington U. hit .417 (43-8-84) in the match, compared with just .060 (23-18-83) for Central. The Bears held a 6-4 lead in the first set, before an 11-2 run made it 17-6 in favor of Washington U. The Bears maintained the double-digit lead the remainder of the set, winning 25-12.

A strong serving run by Fisher to open the second set put the Bears ahead 7-1. Central cut the lead to three (9-6) but was unable to get closer as the Bears earned the 25-18 win. In the third set, Washington U. held a 13-7 lead before six-straight points stretched the advantage to 12 points (19-7). The Dutch trimmed the deficit to 10 (20-10), but a kill by Blood ended the match, 25-12.

Twelve Washington U. players recorded kills in the match, led by freshman outside hitter Nkiru Udenze with a career-high 12. Hargrave added 10, while junior middle hitter Emily Tulloch registered eight kills on 10 swings. Fisher had 26 assists, while Wang added 10, and Pang tallied 16 digs.

Washington University (19-1, 3-0 UAA) is set to take on Monmouth College (Ill.) at 12:15 and Westminster College (Mo.) at 2:30 on Saturday afternoon to close out the Bears Classic.

Bear Notebook: The Bears hosted “Dig for Pink” night during the Central College match, raising money to support the Siteman Cancer Center, which provides free mammograms for underprivileged women … The win over Central marked the 1,100th win (1,100-227-6) in Washington University program history … Washington U. improved to 2-0 all-time against Knox, and 17-9 all-time against Central … The Bears are now 431-48 (.900) in matches at the WU Field House since 1985 … Pang improved her Washington University career digs record to 2,228.