CLAYTON, Mo. - Webster University battled through three hard-fought sets here Thursday evening with 10th-raniked Washingtion University in St. Louis in non-conference volleyball action against the two Big Bend Avenue rivals at the WashU Field House.

The Bears would ultimately prevail in the match as they posted a three-set victory over the Gorloks, but Webster made the Bears work for their ninth win of the season. WashU won the first and third sets by identical 25-23 scores and won the second set, 25-13. 

With the setback, Webster falls to 4-7 overall on the season, while WashU improves to 9-3 overall. 

Thursday's match featured 16 ties and 10 lead changes, including 11 ties and eight lead changes in the third set. Despite the sweep, Webster held leads in all three sets against the Bears, who are ranked 10th in this week's latest AVCA Division III Coaches' Poll.

Sophomore outside hitter Samantha Kruse (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) paced Webster's offense with a match-high tying 10 kills and hit .269. In addition to Kruse, senior outside hitter Torie Grassi (St. Louis, Mo./Rosati-Kain) added seven kills and hit .312. For the match, Webster hit .099 and had 29 kills, but outblocked the Bears, 7.0-6.5, but the biggest difference came in serving as WashU recorded 10 aces and WU finished with five.

Defensively, Webster was outdug, 58-49 as senior right side hitter Samantha Budrovich (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South) and sophomore libero Kristen Farrah (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell) each had 11 digs in the loss. Farrah entered the match leading Division III in digs per set (8.62). 

In the opening set, WU jumped in front 4-0 and led 8-3 when WashU used 4-0 run to pull within 8-7. After each team would score three straight points to give WU an 11-10 lead, the Bears used a 10-3 run to take a 20-14 lead. The Gorloks, though, would respond with an 8-2 run that tied the set at 22 and forced the Bears to call a timeout. WU's run was aided by two kills each from Grassi and Budrovich. After the teams traded points to retie the score at 23, the Bears would cap its 25-23 set win by scoring the final two points, including sealing the win with a kill from Leila King. In the set, Webster outhit WashU, .109 to .089.

Webster opened the second set by scoring the first two points on kills by junior middle hitter Taylor Kissel (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South) and Grassi, before WashU used a 6-1 run to take a 6-3 lead. The Gorloks would then score would of the next six points to pull within a point at 8-7. That would be as close as the set would be as the Bears responded with an 11-3 run to push out to a 19-10 lead. WashU's run was aided by three aces and four errors by the Gorloks. After an attack error stopped the Bears' run, WashU would score six of the final eight points in the set to post a 25-13 win and take a 2-0 lead in the match. In the set, WashU hit ..448, while WU hit .212. 

Much like the first set, the third set was another back-and-forth affair. WashU jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but WU used 6-4 run to tie the set at 6. The Gorloks, though, would use a 9-7 run to push in front 15-13. WU's run was keyed by three kills from Kruse and capped by an ace from Kruse. WashU would answer by scoring five straight points, including taking advantage to three WU attack errors to take an 18-15 lead. WU would respond by scoring five consecutive points, including scoring two of those points on aces from Kissel, to take a 20-18 lead. WU's lead would eventually increase to 23-19, before the Bears would score rally to score the final five points of the set to seal its 25-23 set win and 3-0 match sweep. In the set, WashU hit ..211 and held Webster to a -.031 attack percentage. 

Julianne Malek paced WashU with 10 kills and six aces, while Leila King added nine kills and hit .471 and Ifeoma Ufondu had eight kills and two blocks in the win. Defensively, Natalie Stephanus had 12 digs, while Lauren Martin added 10 digs. 

The Gorloks will return to St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play this coming Saturday, Sept. 22 as they travel to Elsah, Ill., to compete in a quad at Principia College. At the Principia Quad, the Gorloks will face Principia at 11 a.m. and then face Iowa Wesleyan at 1 p.m.