WashU Volleyball Sweeps St. Olaf to Advance to Second Round of NCAA Tournament
For the second consecutive season, the Washington University in St. Louis volleyball advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. This time, the No. 14 Bears (three-seed) swept St. Olaf College (six-seed) (25-15, 27-25, 25-23) on Thursday in Mount Vernon, Iowa.
WashU held the statistical advantages in aces (5-1), blocks (6-5), and hitting percentage (.228-.158).
Junior Jasmine Sells ended the match with a team-high 11 kills, while senior Lily Steinbach topped double-digits with 10 kills. Junior Lucy Davis landed eight kills in the sweep.
Buckley dished out a match-high 36 assists.
Defensively, junior Elise Gilroy generated a team-high 16 digs, while senior Alden Standley (11), and first-year Ellie Laird (10) each recorded double-digit dig performances.
Junior Zoe Foster tallied a match-high five rejections in the contest.
The Bears raced out to the quick 7-2 advantage as the Oles signaled for a timeout. With the score in favor of WashU, 3-2, the Bears earned the next four points on a Steinbach kill, a Gilroy ace, a block by Foster and first-year Leah Oyewole, and a St. Olaf attack error.
Davis recorded a powerful kill that landed in the back left corner of the court to extend WashU's advantage to seven, 10-3. The Bears then doubled-up the Oles, 14-7, with a well-placed push kill by Sells. Davis, on a Buckley assist, earned a kill off the St. Olaf block as the Oles took their second timeout of the set, with WashU ahead by eight, 16-8.
However, the pause in action did little to slow down the potent WashU offense as Davis landed another kill to put WashU in front, 17-8. Davis and Foster then teamed up for a rejection to extend the Bears' lead to nine, 19-10. A St. Olaf attack error gave WashU the first set, 25-15, victory.
In the second, Gilroy earned an ace to give WashU the early, four-point, 5-1 advantage. Foster, continuing her solid contest, utilized a slide kill to produce the 7-3 WashU lead. However, the Oles evened the set at 8-8 on a kill. With back-and-forth action ensuing, the score stood knotted at 11-all. St. Olaf registered back-to-back points to grab the 13-11 lead as head coach Vanessa Walby called a timeout.
A St. Olaf net violation ended their run as WashU found themselves trailing by three, 15-12. St. Olaf widened their lead to five, 18-13. The Bears then went on a three-point run to trim the deficit to a pair, 18-16, as the Oles called for a timeout.
A few points after the timeout, Steinbach notched a kill to even the score at 20-20. The Oles generated the next two points to grab the 22-20 advantage to warrant another WashU timeout. After the pause in action, Steinbach produced another kill to trim the deficit to one, 23-22.
With St. Olaf at set point, 24-22, the Bears were able to fend off the set point and evened the score at 24-24. Oyewole and Foster nailed pressure packed kills to take the set to extra points as St. Olaf took a timeout.
In thrilling fashion, WashU erased the earlier five-point deficit in the set and stole the second set, 27-25. With the Bears trailing by one, 25-24, WashU recorded three straight points on a Foster kill, a St. Olaf attack error, and a Sells kill to seal the set.
After trailing by two, 6-4, in the early goings of the third, the Bears then landed the next three tallies to take the 7-6 lead. The small run was highlighted by a Foster and Davis rejection. Steinbach stuffed a St. Olaf attack attempt to open up the 11-8 lead as the Oles burned a timeout.
With back-and-forth action, the score stood even at 16-16. WashU then welcomed three straight points to take the 19-16 lead as St. Olaf took their second timeout of the set. The run saw kills by Davis and Foster and rejection by Buckley and Foster.
WashU manufactured a four-point, 23-19, cushion on a Steinbach kill. However, St. Olaf turned in three straight points to trim WashU's lead to one, 23-22, as the Bears took a timeout. The timeout worked to perfection as the Oles serve fell short to push the Bears to match point, 24-22.
Steinbach grabbed the match-ending kill, with a third set score of 25-23, to advance the Bears to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.