LEXINGTON, Va. — Senior outside hitter Val Sokolow (Draper, Utah/Juan Diego Catholic) and sophomore outside hitter Sydney Heifner (Nashville, Tenn./Harpeth Hall) combined for 29 kills and 23 digs to propel the top-seeded Washington and Lee volleyball team to a 3-0 victory over fourth-seeded Bridgewater on Friday in the ODAC Tournament semifinals at Holekamp Gym.
 
The Generals (25-7) claimed the opening set, 25-17, but could not create any separation from the Eagles (14-13) in the second. Trailing 15-13 in the stanza, W&L scored three straight points, with senior right side Carson Allsteadt (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) accounting for two kills, to go in front, 16-15.
 
The advantage was 20-18 a few rallies later, but Bridgewater notched three straight points to assume a 21-20 edge. Back-to-back kills by Heifner and Sokolow gave the Generals a 22-21 lead, but a kill by sophomore outside hitter Ashley Casey tied the set (22-22).
 
A kill by Heifner regained a one-point margin for the Blue and White, but again the Eagles answered, this time with a kill by senior outside hitter Jessica Bissmeyer to knot the score, 23-23. W&L took a 24-23 lead on a kill by Sokolow, and then junior defensive specialist Caroline Gard (Naperville, Ill./Benet Academy) closed out the set, 25-23, on a service ace.
 
Following the two-point victory in the second, the Generals jumped out to an early lead in the third and held on for a 25-14 win to secure the match.
 
The Blue and White tallied a .351 hitting percentage with 48 kills on 114 total attempts with only eight errors. The Eagles mustered a .188 hitting percentage with 36 kills and 14 errors on 117 swings.
 
Sokolow finished with 15 kills on 29 swings with just one error for a .483 hitting percentage. She also added 12 digs. Heifner totaled 14 kills and 11 digs with two blocks.
 
Gard notched a team-high 15 digs to go with two aces and two assists. Junior setter Ashley Webb (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Westlake) registered 40 assists and four digs. With the 40 assists, Webb moves to fifth on the W&L career list with 2,072 assists. Alison Beard '98 is fourth all-time with 2,192.
 
Senior middle blocker Katy Blain (West Palm Beach, Fla./Benjamin School) had eight kills on 12 attempts for a .667 hitting percentage, while Allsteadt recorded seven kills.
 
Junior middle hitter Ann-Marie Johnson paced Bridgewater with 12 kills on a .440 hitting percentage. Junior setter Grace Hayes finished with 28 assists, six digs and two kills.
 
With the victory, W&L has registered 25 wins for the first time since the 2014 season when the team finished the year at 27-7.
 
The Generals will host third-seeded Virginia Wesleyan on Sunday in the ODAC Championship Match at Holekamp Gym. The official start time will be announced on Saturday.