ST. LOUIS – The Westminster women's volleyball team was defeated by Washington University in St. Louis Tuesday night in three sets. The Blue Jays drop to 1-3 on the season.
The Blue Jays fell behind early in the first set, trailing 21-11 to the Bears. Westminster was able to close the gap and cut the lead to 24-21 before ultimately losing the set 25-21.
Westminster scored the first point of the second set on an attack error by WashU. However, the Bears rallied to score the next six points of the set to go up 6-1. A kill by Ashley Kistaitis (Lincoln, Neb. / Lincoln North Star) put the score at 6-2 and gave the Blue Jays some momentum and Westminster was able to cut the lead to 6-4 following a pair of attack errors by WashU. The Bears responded with another six point run and Westminster was unable to catch up. WashU won the second set 25-13.
The Blue Jays played a competitive third set, scoring first on a kill by Sarah Rivers (St. Louis, Mo. / Lutheran High School South). The two teams continued to exchange points and a block by Rivers and Teresa Becker (St. Charles, Mo. / Home Schooled) allowed the Blue Jays to tie the game at 7-7. A Kistaitis kill assisted by Becker put Westminster up 8-7. However, this lead was short-lived, as WashU rallied to take a 13-9 lead and forced the Blue Jays to take a timeout. The Bears closed out the third set 25-16 to win the match 3-0.
Kistaitis led the Blue Jays with seven kills and eight digs, while Rivers totaled a team-high four blocks.
Next up Westminster will travel to play in the DePauw Tournament with matchups against Elmhurst on Sept. 13 and Whitman and Aurora on Sept. 14.