WEBSTER GROVES - Webster University's hopes for its 13th St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Volleyball Tournament title fell short here Saturday evening as No. 2 seeded Greenville University posted a hard-fought four-set victory over the top-seeded Gorloks (25-21, 25-17, 24-26, 26-24) in the championship match of the 2018 SLIAC Tournament at Grant Gymnasium on the Webster University campus. 

With the setback, Webster concludes the 2018 season with a 19-12 overall record and had its 10-match home win streak snapped, while Greenville improved to 23-10 and claimed its fourth consecutive SLIAC Tournament title and earn the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Volleyball Tournament. 

Webster had earned a berth in the championship match by posting a thrilling and exciting five set win earlier in the day on Saturday against No. 4 seeded Westminster (Mo.) College in the semifinals, while Greenville earned its spot in the championship match following its three-set semifinal win over No. 3 seeded Principia. 

Saturday night's match featured the top teams in the league throughout the 2018 campaign as Webster and Greenville each went 16-2 during the regular season in league play and each team took home a share of the regular season SLIAC title. The regular season title was 10th in school history for the Gorloks in volleyball. 

A fourth set didn't seem possible after Webster lost the first two sets, before they rallied to earn a 26-24 win in the third set to force a fourth set. In the fourth set, the two teams combined for five ties and three lead changes as Greenville led 17-12 before the Gorloks rallied to tie the set at 19 following a 7-2 run. The Panthers, though, would hold off Webster's rally as they scored the final three points of the set after a kill by senior outside hitter Samantha Budrovich (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South) slammed home a kill to give the Gorloks a 24-23 edge. 

"I thought we started out kind of slow, didn't compete well and had a lot of mistakes early in the match, but in and around the third set, we took control of it. The fourth set we really battled hard and had the lead going into the late part of the set, but a couple little errors kept us from winning," said Merry Graf following Saturday's championship final. "I really proud of the way they battle. They (the players) have nothing to hang their head about, we had a great season."

Budrovich's kill would be the final point of the season for the Gorloks as senior setter Kelsey Hamann (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) was called for a ball handling error that tied the set at 24 and Hamann then followed with an attack error to give Greenville a 25-24 lead. The Panthers would then seal the win on a kill by Anna Finch. 

In the match, Greenville finished with 65 kills and hit .199, while Webster had 45 kills and hit .124 in the match. Both teams combined for 226 digs as Greenville finished with 114 digs and Webster recorded 112 and Greenville held a 10-5 edge in blocks, which helped negate 10 service errors. The teams also combined for 24 ties and nine lead changes. 

Budrovich led the way for Webster with 11 kills and 13 digs for her seventh double-double of the season in her final collegiate match, while junior right side hitter Sarah Jacobs (Carbondale, Ill./Murphysboro) had 10 kill and hit a team-high .226. Sophomore outside hitter Samantha Kruse (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) added nine kills and 10 digs. 

Webster's defensive effort was paced by the play of sophomore libero Kristen Farrah (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell) as she recorded 39 digs and had a total of 96 digs in two tournament matches and averaged 10.67 digs per set. Farrah was one of six players named to the SLIAC All-Tournament Team and closed out her sophomore season with 882 digs, which is currently seventh on the NCAA Division III's all-time single season list for digs. In addition, she has now recorded 1,281 digs in her career, which is 10th on the school's all-time list. Her 8.32 digs per set this season is a new single season school record and is second on the NCAA Division III's all-time single season chart. 

Along with Farrah, Budrovich and Kruse, junior setter Jenna Rodriguez (Smithton, Ill./Freeburg), who was Webster's other representative on the All-Tournament Team  had 19 digs and recorded 22 assists for her 13th double-double, while Hamann had 20 digs, 15 assists and a match-high three errors in her final collegiate match. The double-double by Hamann was her team-leading 15th of the season and 49th of her collegiate career. 

"We had a very nice finish to the season. We started league play 0-2, which I'm not sure I've ever started a season 0-2 and then we won 16 straight conference games," the Webster coach said when asked to reflect on the season. "Very impressive and a lot of them were in three sets, so it was awesome they were able to take care of business in the conference."

Saturday's match marked the final one for Webster's three seniors - Budrovich, Hamann and senior right side hitter Torie Grassi (St. Louis, Mo./Rosati-Kain), along with one junior, middle hitter Taylor Kissel (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South), who is going to graduate early and attend nursing school next year. 

Grassi closed out her four year Webster career 10th on the school's career kill chart with 848 and seventh on the school's all-time attack attempts chart with 2,628, while Budrovich closes her career 10th on the school's career attack attempts chart with 2,544 to pass Colleen Simpson, who recorded 2,522 attack attempts from 1990-93. 

"We now need to reload and come back next year," said Graf, who has compiled a 358-207 record in her 18th season at Webster. 

Webster finished the season with 2,490 digs and averaged 23.49 digs per set, both of which are second on the school's single season charts. 

Greenville was paced by 24 kills and 16 digs from Abby Freeman, who was named the SLIAC Tournament MVP. In addition to Freeman, Finch, who was also named to the All-Tournament Team, finished with 17 kills, five blocks and hit .357 and Emily Stahl added 11 kills and three blocks en route to earning a spot on the All-Tournament Team. The other members of the All-Tournament Team were Westminster sophomore outside hitter Allie Kennebeck and Principia senior outside hitter Sophie Hathaway. 

The Panthers defense was paced by a combined 58 digs from Allyson Grabowski and Whitney Nichols as Grabowski had 31 digs and Nichols followed with 27 digs.  Nichols also added four blocks as she had two solo blocks to go with her two assisted blocks. 

In the opening set, Webster jumped out to an early 7-4 lead and led 9-7 when the Panthers used a 7-4 run capped by back-to-back kills from Finch and Freeman to take a 14-13 lead. After a kill from Kissel retied the set at 14-all, the Panthers used a 7-3 run to take a 21-17 lead. The lead would grow to 23-19, before before both teams each scores two points apiece to seal GU's 25-21 win. In the set, Greenville hit .184 and Webster hit .091. 

The second set belonged to the Panthers and jumped out to a 7-1 lead and led 12-7 when the Gorloks scored two of the next four sports to pull within 14-9. GU, though, responded with an 8-3 run to push its lead to 21-12. After a kill by Jacobs and an ace from Farrah moved WU within seven at 21-14, GU would close the set by scoring four of the final seven points to earn a 25-17 win. In the set, Greenville hit .263 and Webster hit -.026. 

In the third set, Webster seemed to come alive as they jumped in front 10-5 and led 13-10 when Greenville used a 6-5 run to pull within 18-17 following a kill by Maci Bonacorsi. An assisted block by Kruse and freshman middle hitter Kylie Burke (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West) jump started a 4-2 run that gave the Gorloks a 22-19 lead. The Panthers, though, wouldn't go away as they scored three straight points to tie the set at 22. The two teams would then take turns trading points, before a kill from Grassi and a solo block by Burke helped seal WU's 26-24 set win. In the set, Webster hit .143 and GU hit .149 as both teams combined for 32 kills and 83 digs in the set. Rodriguez and Farrah each had 10 digs in the set for the Gorloks, while Nichols had 12 and Grabowski posted 11 digs. 

Complete SLIAC Volleyball Tournament results
Saturday, Nov. 3
Semifinal #1 - #1 Webster 3, #4 Westminster 2 (25-27, 25-20, 25-18, 26-28, 15-10)
Semifinal #2 - #2 Greenville, 3, Principia 0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-15)
Championship - #2 Greenville 3, #1 Webster 1 (21-25, 17-25, 26-24, 24-26) 
Greenville captures its fourth straight and fifth all-time SLIAC Tournament title

SLIAC Tournament All-Tournament Team
Westminster - Allie Kennebeck
Principia - Sophia Hathaway
Webster - Kristen Farrah and Jenna Rodriguez
Greenville - Anna Finch, Emily Stahl and Abby Freeman (MVP)