The Webster University women's volleyball team won its eighth straight match, defeating Illinois College 3-1, on September 19 at Grant Gymnasium. After dropping a hard-fought first set, the Gorloks came back to win three straight sets, including a thrilling conclusion to the set three win.
Webster trailed, 6-5, in
set one before taking a 10-7 lead. Illinois College came right back to take a 12-11 lead. The Gorloks trailed at 17-16 before calling a timeout. Webster scored a point out of the timeout , but Illinois responded with three straight for a 20-17 advantage. The Gorloks closed to within one again, at 21-20, but the Lady Blues built their lead to 23-20, prompting another Webster timeout.
After the Lady Blues went to set point at 24-20, a kill by Kristen Farrah (FR, St. Charles, MO/Francis Howell), an Illinois error, and a Kelsey Hamann (JR, Waterloo, IL/Waterloo) kill made it a one-point deficit at 24-23. After an Illinois timeout, a Lady Blues error tied it at 24-24. Another Lady Blues error put Webster at set point but a Gorlok error tied it at 25-25. A Lady Blues kill gave them set point, and a second kill won the set, 27-25.
In
set two, after being tied at 6-6, Webster went on a 4-0 run, that included two kills by Sarah Jacobs (SO, Carbondale, IL/Murphysboro). With the Gorloks up, 13-9, the Lady Blues called a timeout which didn't stem the tide as Webster scored five more points to increase its lead to 18-9. Emi Beining (SR, Festus, MO/Lutheran South) and Samantha Budrovich (JR, St. Louis, MO/Lutheran South) had kills in the run. Illinois closed to 18-12, but another Webster run with a pair of kills by Torie Grassi (JR, St. Louis, MO/Rosati-Kain) and one by Beining made it 22-12, prompting another Lady Blues timeout. Webster closed out the set at 25-14 to tie the match at 1-1.
Webster, which had 10 attack errors in the first set, limited the number to two in set two, hitting at a .277 pct, as opposed to .086 in the set one loss The Gorloks opened
set three with a 7-2 lead and extended it to 13-5. The Lady Blues had numerous errors, contributing to the Gorloks' advantage. When Webster opened up a 19-8 lead, the Gorloks had seven kills, but the Lady Blues aided the cause with eight errors. The barrage continued for Webster as a 'dink' kill by Jacobs made the Gorloks a winner at 25-11, with a 2-1 set lead.
The Lady Blues took an early lead in
set four, and held a 10-7 advantage, prompting a Webster timeout. Illinois still led, 13-10, and each time Webster scored a point, the Lady Blues had an answer. Webster called another timeout, down 20-17. A kill by Farrah out of the timeout made it 20-18. but llinois took the. next two for a 22-18 lead. A Budrovich kill and Illinois error left Webster two down at 23-21. The Lady Blues called a timeout, but Budrovich spiked two more to tie it at 23-23, and a Grassi kill gave Webster a 24-23 lead as Illinois took another time out. A Webster error tied it, but an Illinois error gave the Gorloks another set point. A Rachel Mencel (SR, Colchester, IL/West Prairie) block for a point won the set, 26-24, and the match, 3-1.
Soffner finished with 37 digs for the evening, the ninth highest single-match total in Webster history. Grassi had 12 kills, and Budrovich had 10 with a .320 attack pct. Hamann had a team-high 30 assists, giving her 1113 career assists, and slipping her into seventh place on Webster's all-time high list. Hamann surpassed Leigh Knobbe (1989-91), who had 1112 for her career.
Webster 8-3, is on an eight-match win streak. The last time the Gorloks won eight in a row was 2014. Webster won nine in a row in 2008 and 10 in a row in 2007. Illinois College, who was 2-0 vs. SLIAC teams entering the contest, falls to 5-9.
The Gorloks make the short trip to Fontbonne University for the resumption of the "Battle of Big Bend' on September 21, then travel to Eureka College (IL) on September 26.
