No. 1 Washington U. Sweeps Rochester, Brandeis at UAA Round Robin
ROCHESTER BOX | BRANDEIS BOX
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Chicago, Ill., Sept. 29, 2012 – The No. 1-ranked Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team improved to 15-1 overall and 2-0 in the University Athletic Association with a pair of sweeps over University of Rochester (25-20, 25-20, 25-17) and Brandeis University (25-10, 25-8, 25-20) at the first UAA Round Robin on Saturday at University of Chicago.
#1 Washington U. 3, Rochester 0
Washington U. struggled with its offensive attack early against Rochester, falling behind 19-13 in the first set. The Bears then went on a 12-1 run, including four kills by junior outside hitter Meghan Byrne, to rally for the 25-20 set-one win. After having eight hitting errors through the first half of the set, the Bears hammered seven kills on their final 12 swings of the set to earn the win.
The Bears led throughout the second set before Rochester tied the score at 18-18. Two ace serves by freshman right-side hitter Allison Zastrow and two kills each by Byrne and freshman middle hitter Jackie Nelligan made it 24-19. After a sideout by the Yellowjackets, the fourth kill of the set by senior setter Marilee Fisher gave Washington U. the 25-20 win in the second set. The Bears controlled the third set, winning 25-17, to finish the match.
Byrne led the Bears with nine kills, six digs, two aces and two blocks. Fisher finished with 27 assists, seven kills and eight digs, while senior libero Kelly Pang tallied 19 digs to lead Washington U. defensively.
#1 Washington U. 3, Brandeis 0
The Bears overpowered Brandeis throughout the match. Washington U. led 14-8 in the first set, before closing the set with an 11-2 scoring run, including three blocks by junior middle hitter Emily Tulloch, to earn the 25-10 opening-set win. The Bears hit .360 (10-1-25) in the first set, including four kills by senior outside hitter Drew Hargrave.
Washington U. jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the second set and continued to dominate throughout the set, hitting .364 (14-2-33) as a team and finishing with a 25-8 win. In the third set, Tulloch, Nelligan and freshman outside hitter Nkiru Udenze combined for 13 of Washington U.’s 15 kills as the Bears closed the match with a 25-20 win.
Tulloch tallied a team-high 11 kills, while hitting .476 (11-1-21) in the match. Nelligan finished with eight kills, while Hargrave and Udenze added seven each. Tulloch and Udenze also had four blocks apiece. Freshman setter Cassie Wang recorded 16 assists, and Fisher had 12. Pang again led the Bears defensively, tallying 22 digs.
Washington University (15-1, 2-0 UAA) concludes the first UAA Round Robin with a match against Case Western Reserve University at Noon on Sunday, Sept. 30.
Bear Notebook: Washington U. improved to 45-1 all-time against Rochester and 35-0 against Brandeis … The Bears are 167-6 all-time in UAA play … With her 11 kills on the day, Hargrave is now just nine shy of 1,000 kills for her career … Pang’s 41 digs on the day brought her WUSTL career record to 2,167.