The Webster University volleyball team completed its trip to Kentucky with a split, losing to Transylvania University, 3-1, and defeating Kean University (NJ), 3-1, on October 22 in Lexington. The Gorloks overpowered Kean for a win in the day's finale. Webster got off to a good start against host Transylvania with a first set win in the opener, but dropped the last three sets for the loss.
Against Kean, the Gorloks took a close set, 25-21, to take a 1-0 lead . Webster ramped it up in set two, taking an 8-3 lead, then after a Kean point, reeled off six more straight points to open up a 14-4 lead. The Gorloks coasted from there, with a 25-9 final.
Webster fell behind, 6-1, in set three, but quickly closed the gap to 11-9. The Cougars pulled back up 15-11 and glided to a 25-18 win to cut Webster's match lead to 2-1. The momentum swung back Webster's way as it took a 5-0 lead in set four. Kean would tie the set up at 8-8 before Webster would pull away, building up a 19-11 lead. The Cougars closed to within five, at 22-17, before the Gorloks closed out the set, 25-21, and the match.
Macee Owen (SO, Tucson, AZ/Empire) and Jory Siebenmorgen (SR, Eureka, MO/Eureka) each had 12 kills in the match, with Torie Grassi (SO, St. Louis, MO/Rosati-Kain) right behind with 11. Webster as a team had a .231 attack percent in the match. Kelsey Hamann (SO, Waterloo, IL/Waterloo) had a season-high 31 assists in the match and Katie O'Toole (SR, St. Louis, MO/Lutheran South) led with 21 digs. Emily Knowles (SR, Belleville, IL/Mascoutah) had eight kills and a team-high three block assists.
Against host Transylvania, Webster got off to a great start by beating the Pioneers in the first set, 25-16. But the Gorloks lost a close second set, 21-25, and never could rebound as they lost the final two, 14-25 and 13-25. Attack errors were the Gorloks' downfall in the match, committing almost as many (31) as they had kills (33) for the contest.
Grassi led Webster with nine kills. Maria Soffner (JR, Creve Coeur, MO/Incarnate Word Academy) and O'Toole each had 12 digs to lead Webster in that category, and Hamann had a team-high 13 assists.
Webster is now 16-9 overall on the year. Kean, a member of the New Jersey Athletic Conference, falls to 17-12. Transylvania, a member of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, improved to 13-11.
The Gorloks have a SLIAC match at Fontbonne University on October 26, then travel to Rock Island, IL, for the Pumpkin Bash Tournament hosted by Augustana College on October 28-29. At Augustana, Webster will play four matches, including a conference tilt with Iowa Wesleyan University.
