BRIDGEWATER, Va. – The Washington and Lee University volleyball team swept Bridgewater College 3-0 on Wednesday night to wrap up the Old Dominion Athletic Conference regular-season slate and will await tournament seeding to be announced on Saturday evening.
The Generals (16-9, 10-2 ODAC) notched their tenth conference win for the third consecutive year with 25-22, 25-21, and 25-17 set wins over the Eagles (17-11, 9-3) to wrap up ODAC play.
W&L’s attack percentage consistently improved throughout the night from 0.125 to 0.250 in the second stanza. The squad closed out the evening with 15 kills to just 3 errors on 38 attempts, a 0.316 outing and averaged 0.229 percent over the match.
Washington and Lee recorded 10 service aces and four blocks with 43 kills to round out the team’s 57 points.
The Blue and White broke out in the first set with a 5-0 run at the 15-14 advantage. The visitors jumped out ahead by six points and held off the Eagles who were able to notch back-to-back points on four occasions. The set ended on a BC service error to give W&L a 25-22 opening win.
The second series featured 10 tied scores and three lead changes. The Generals trailed BC 19-16 but marched back with three-straight points before Faith Depew interrupted the run with a kill for the home team and made the score 20-19.
WLU then hammered down four straight tallies and a 6-1 run. Five of those points were kills, Sydney Heifner (Nashville, Tenn. / Harpeth Hall) tallied three of those. McKenna Cook (Powell, Ohio / Olentangy Liberty) and Riley Debiec (Potomac, Md. / Bishop O’Connell) both added one, Ashley Webb (Thousand Oaks, Calif./ Westlake) set up each point before before Maddie Weller (West Chester, Pa. / Downingtown STEM Academy) scored the set-point on a service ace, 25-21.
By the third set, the Generals owned all the momentum and dominated the last stanza. The Blue and White tallied seven of the first eight points on the scoreboard including a six-point run. The home team tried to battle back and were able to cut the deficit down to two, but a pair of 5-0 runs at 10-8 and again at 16-12 put the Generals ahead. Two home team errors put the Generals at match point, 25-17, and sent W&L home with the victory.
Heifner led the offense with 18 kills, Webb notched 34 assists, and Caroline Gard (Naperville, Ill. / Benet Academy) tallied 19 digs, all of which were match-highs for the two rosters. Webb recorded four service aces in addition to Heifner’s three.
Maggie McSwain (Atlanta, Ga. / Westminster) had a team-high 0.333 attack percentage.
For the Eagles, Lisa O’Grady recorded 11 kills and Kylie Robinson dug out 12 receptions.
Up next, the Blue and White will travel to Atlanta and the Emory National Invitational to face Birmingham-Southern College and Ogelthorpe on Friday at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., respectively. W&L and Berry College (Ga.) will square off in a 10 a.m. match on Saturday morning.
–Generalssports.com–
