WEBSTER GROVES - Webster University Volleyball got off a fast start here Tuesday evening against Washington University in St. Louis as the Gorloks won the opening set 25-10, but couldn't sustain that early momentum as the Bears rallied to post a four-set (25-10, 16-25, 15-25, 15-25) non-conference victory in the Battle of Big Bend at Grant Gymnasium.

With the setback, Webster falls to 7-8 overall on the season, while WashU, who received votes in this week's latest AVCA Division III Coaches' Poll, improves to 12-5 on the year. 

Against WashU, the Gorloks finished with 37 digs and had seven aces, while the Bears recorded 53 kills and had three aces. On defense, WashU had 89 digs and five blocks, while Webster finished with 70 digs and four blocks. 

Freshman outside hitter Lauren Borik (Belleville, Ill./Althoff) paced WU's offense with 13 kills and hit .281, while junior outside hitter Samantha Kruse (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) added seven kills and 13 digs and junior middle hitter Jordan Price (Fulton, Ill./Carl Sandburg College) had six kills and two assisted blocks. 

Defensively, junior libero Kristen Farrah (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell) had 22 digs to extend her double-digit dig streak to 50 consecutive matches. With her 22 digs, Farrah pushed her career dig total to 1,691, which is second all-time on the school's all-time list as she passed Jordan Vehlewald on the all-time list with her effort on Tuesday. Vehlewald recorded 1,690 digs from 2011-14. 

In addition to Farrah's 22 digs, Kruse had 13 digs and sophomore defensive specialist Kyra Gensel (Clarkton, N.C./Harrells Christian) added 11 digs for the match. Senior setter Jenna Rodriguez (Smithton, Ill./Freeburg) just missed her fifth straight double-double as she finished the match with 17 assists and nine digs and added two of WU's seven aces. 

Webster hit .189 and held WashU to a .000 hitting percentage in earning a 25-10 win in the opening set. The 10 points scored by the Bears in the set was their second lowest output in a set this season as they scored eight points in a 15-8 loss in the fifth set of a five-set loss to Hendrix on Aug. 30. In the opening set, WU jumped out to a 7-1 lead and never trailed as they led by as much as 13 points at 21-8 following an assisted block from Kruse and Price. After a kill from Tricia Brown stopped the Gorloks run, WU would close out the set by scoring four of the final five points, including capping the 25-10 win with a kill by Rodriguez. WashU had seven of their 20 attack errors in the set. 

In the second set, WashU would jump out to a 9-4 lead and led 11-6 when the Gorloks used a 4-3 run to pull within 14-10 following a kill by Borik. That would be as close as the Gorloks would get in the set as WashU responded with a 10-4 run to take a 24-14. lead. After a kill by outside hitter Peyton Eikel (Dardenne Prairie, Mo./Liberty) and an attack error by Brown brought WU within 24-16, Brown would seal WashU's 25-16 win with a kill. In the set, WashU hit .270 and the Gorloks hit .093 and had eight kills, including five kills by Borik.

The third set belonged to WashU as they jumped in front 7-2 and led by as much as 18-9 before WU responded with a 5-2 run to pull within 20-14. The Bears, though, would score five of the final six points of the set to post a 25-15 win and take a 2-1 lead in the match. In the set, WashU hit .275 and had 18 kills, while WU had eight kills and hit .057.

WashU once again got off to a fast start in the fourth set as they the first five points and led 7-3 when the Gorloks used an 8-3 run to take an 11-10 lead. The run was keyed by three kills from Borik and capped by back-to-back attack errors by WashU. WashU responded with a 12-1 run to push out to a 21-12 lead. The teams would each close the set by scoring three points each to seal WashU's 25-15 set win. In the set, WU had 12 kills and hit .078, while WashU had 15 kills and hit .279. 

The Bears offense was paced by 19 kills and a .333 attack percentage from Michaela Bach. Along with Bach, Leila King added nine kills and hit .368, while Brown and Caitlin Lorenz each had seven kills in the win. 

Kirby Knapp finished with a double-double of 48 assists and 24 digs, while Rachel Cheng added 15 digs and Brown had 14 digs for the Bears. 

The Gorloks will return to St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play this coming Thursday, Oct. 3 as they travel to Fulton, Mo., for a 7 p.m. against Westminster (Mo.) College. Webster picked up a four set win over the Blue Jays this past Saturday at the MacMurray Quadrangle.