The Wash. U. women’s volleyball team moved to 13-0, with a victory over Greenville, Wednesday night. (Photo courtesy: Wash. U. Athletics)
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wash. U. (13-0) | 25 | 25 | 24 | 25 | (3) |
| Greenville (4-5) | 14 | 18 | 26 | 14 | (1) |
DeMarcus Dixon
Staff Writer
GREENVILLE, IL — The No. 6 Washington University volleyball team pushed its beginning of the season winning streak to 13 games, Wednesday evening, when it defeated Greenville University, three sets to one, in a non-conference match at Greenville.
Wash. U., which had just moved up the AVCA national rankings from No. 20 to No. 6 on Tuesday, proved it deserved to be ranked among the nation’s Top 10 by taking care of the host Panthers in rather comfortable fashion, by the scores of 25-14, 25-18, 24-26, and 25-14.
At 13-0, the Bears are one of just five teams in NCAA Division III women’s volleyball with unbeaten records. The last time Wash. U. began its season by winning 13 straight, was a decade ago, in 2012, when the team went 31-4 and advanced to the NCAA Regional Championship game.
For the eighth time this season, the Bears finished the match with at least 50 kills, marking 51 in total on Wednesday.
With 628 kills this season, Wash. U. ranks seventh nationally in total team kills and leads the UAA.
Michaela Bach, who is now 20 kills away from reaching 1,000 for her career, led Wash. U. with nine kills on the night in two sets played.
Lily Steinbach posted a season-high seven kills, while Lane Bohrer added six. Altogether, 13 different Bears collected at least one kill in the win.
Additionally, the Bears registered a season-best 13 service aces in the road win, matching a season-high.
Defensively, the Bears were led by Elise Gilroy, who posted a career-high 23 digs in the victory and matched her career-high in service aces with five to lead WU.
Jasmine Sells added nine digs, while both Bach and Bohrer tallied seven digs apiece.
Sam Buckley led the Bears in the assists column with 27, as Faith Phillips also notched 16.
After trading points back-and-forth through the first 25 points of the opening set, Wash. U. maintained a 13-12 edge. The Bears would separate themselves in the set using a key 12-2 scoring run to close out the set thanks to five team kills and three service aces throughout the run.
In the second set, the Bears finished with 13 kills and jumped ahead to an 11-6 advantage. The Panthers reduced the lead down to 17-13, but WU would not allow the margin to slim any further, closing out the frame on an 8-5 run.
Wash. U. won the final two points of the set on Greenville errors.
In the third frame, the Bears had their highest mark of kills in a set with 14 but committed seven errors.
Greenville also had its best hitting percentage clip of the match at .196 and tallied 13 kills.
Trailing 10-8, the Bears went on an 8-2 run to take the lead back at 16-12. However, GU would storm back and tie up the set at 21-21. After Wash. U. won the next two points, the Panthers scored on five of the next six points to win the third set and force a fourth frame.
In the fourth, the Bears never trailed. Leading 8-7, WU quickly extended its lead out to a comfortable margin at 18-10 following an 8-3 scoring run.
Wash. U. won the final three points of the set and a kill from Bach on match point secured the win at 25-14.
The Bears will next travel to Bloomington, Ill., on Friday for a pair of matches against Aurora and Illinois Wesleyan.
Wash. U. sports information contributed some information to this story.