WEBSTER GROVES - Since being swept at 10th-ranked Washington University on Sept. 20, Webster University Volleyball has been doing the sweeping as the Gorloks have reeled off seven straight wins all in straight sets after picking up sweeps here Saturday at the Webster Quadrangle over MacMurray College (25-12, 25-21, 25-17) and Blackburn College (25-13, 25-6, 25-14) in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action at Grant Gymnasium.

With the two wins, Webster improves to 11-7 overall and 9-2 in the SLIAC and has now won 21 consecutive sets, which is the longest streak of consecutive sets won since winning 22 straight sets during the 2007 season. In addition, the Gorloks also moved into a second place in the league standings following Westminster's two losses to Principia and Iowa Wesleyan on Friday at a quadrangle hosted by Eureka College. Webster is now one game behind Greenville in the conference standings and the Gorloks play a match on Wednesday at Greenville.

In Saturday's action, Webster used a strong offense to post the back-to-back sweeps as the Gorloks combined to hit .246, including hitting a season high .367 in the win over Blackburn. In addition, Webster also finished with 17 service aces, including a season high 15 aces against Blackburn. The 15 aces are tied for fifth-most in a match in school history and the most aces by the Gorloks in a match since recording 18 aces against Blackburn on Oct. 24, 2013. 

The Gorloks had 80 kills combined in the two matches, including sophomore outside hitter Samantha Kruse (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) had 21 kills, hit .391, had five aces and added 24 digs, while senior right side hitter Torie Grassi (St. Louis, Mo./Rosati-Kain) had 14 kills and hit .243 and junior right side hitter Sarah Jacobs (Carbondale, Ill./Murphysboro) had 13 kills and hit .444.

Defensively, Webster held its two opponents to a combined .004 attack percentage, including holding MacMurray to a -.006 percentage. The Gorloks had 148 digs, including sophomore libero Kristen Farrah (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell) recording a total of 54 digs and averaged 9.00 digs per set and totaled eight blocks.

In Saturday's opener against MacMurray, Webster hit .181 and recorded 42 kills and 95 digs as Kruse led the way offensively with nine kills and added 18 digs, while senior outside hitter Samantha Budrovich (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South) had seven kills and 14 digs and Farrah paced the defense with 36 digs to extend her streak to 30 digs or more to three consecutive matches.

The Highlanders (7-15 overall, 4-6 SLIAC) jumped out to an early 8-4 lead in the first set, before Webster used a 10-1 run to take a 14-9 lead. Grassi had three of her six kills in the match during the run. After a kill by Olivia Wall brought MacMurray within 14-10, Webster would close out the set by scoring 11 of the final 13 points to seal its 25-12 win. In the set, Webster hit .283 and held MacMurray to an -.039 percentage.

Webster would jump out to a 12-3 lead in the second set, and led 15-9 when the Highlanders used a 10-3 run to take a 19-18 lead. The run was keyed by five errors from the Gorloks. After the team's took turns holding the lead, the Gorloks closed the set by scoring four of the set's final five points to turn a 21-20 lead into a 25-21 win. In the set, Webster hit .121 and MacMurray hit .083.

In the third set, Webster jumped out to a 5-2 lead and led 11-6 when the Highlanders responded with a 7-5 run to pull within 16-13. Three straight attack errors by MacMurray pushed WU's lead to 19-13 and after a kill by Wall made the score 19-14, the Gorloks closed out the set on a 6-3 run to post a 25-17 set win and seal its match sweep. In the set, WU hit .156 and held MacMurray to a -.093 attack percentage.

Wall led MacMurray with seven kills and 10 digs, while Kamryn Flesner added six kills in the. Alexis Moore had a team-high 25 digs and Taylor Westfall added 15 digs. 

Both team had two aces and the Gorloks outblocked the Highlanders, 6-1 in the match.

Meanwhile, in the second match against Blackburn, WU hit .367 as eight Gorloks hit over .300 for the match, including Jacobs recording seven kill and hitting .545. In addition to Jacobs, Kruse had 12 kills, a career high five aces and tying a career high with a .550 attack percentage and Grassi had eight kills and hit a career-best .538 in the win. 

Along Kruse's match high five aces, junior setter Jenna Rodriguez (Smithton, Ill./Freeburg) added a career-high four aces, while Budrovich and freshman setter Ali Spohr (Quincy, Ill./Quincy) each had two aces in the match. 

In the first set, Webster jumped out to a 9-3 lead that was keyed by three kills from Grassi. The Highlanders, though, would score seven of the next 14 points to pull within 16-10. That would be as close as MacMurray would get as the Gorloks closed the set on a 9-3 run to cap its 25-13 set win. In the set, WU hit .458 and had five aces, including three from Rodriguez, while MacMurray hit .200.

The second set was all Gorloks as they jumped in front 14-1 and didn't look back en route to posting a 25-6 win. The 14-1 opening run was keyed by three consecutive and four total aces from Kruse and five kills from Jacobs. In the set, Jacobs had five kills and hit .833, while Kruse had four of WU's seven aces as the Gorloks hit .391 and held MacMurray to a -.107 attack percentage.

In the third and final set, Webster jumped to out to a 5-2 lead, before MacMurray scored three straight points to tie the set at 5-all. That would be the only tie in the set as the Gorloks used an 8-0 run keyed by two aces from Budrovich and three kills from Kruse. MacMurray would answer with a 6-5 run to drop WU's lead to 19-11. The Gorloks, though, would close the set by scoring six of the set's final nine points to seal its 25-14 set win. In the set, Kruse had seven of her match-high 12 kills and hit .545 and led WU to a .281 attack percentage as team. MacMurray hit .000 in the set.

Alanni Young had five kills to pace the Beavers (5-14 overall, 5-7 SLIAC). In addition to Young, Kaitlyn Wiegand had four hits and hit a team-best .167. Annika Ochs had 10 digs to pace Blackburn's defense.

The Gorloks will look to make its eight straight wins as they travel to Greenville, Ill., for a 7 p.m. SLIAC match on Wednesday, Oct. 10 against first place Greenville University (14-8 overall, 10-1 SLIAC). Greenville earned a three-win over over the Gorloks in Greenville on Sept. 8. Since that match, Webster has gone 8-1 in league play with the only setback being a four-set loss to Westminster (Mo.) College on Sept. 8 at Greenville.