EUREKA, Ill. - Webster University hit .316 and recorded 47 kills and seven aces en route to posting a three-set sweep (25-13, 25-20, 25-12) here Thursday evening over Eureka College in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Volleyball action at Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena on the Eureka campus.
With the victory, Webster extended its win streak to four straight matches and improved its record to 12-9 overall and 9-3 in the SLIAC, while Eureka fell to 5-18 overall and 2-10 in the SLIAC.
The Gorloks have now recorded 40-plus kills in three straight matches and have hit over .300 in two of its last three matches.
In the win against the Red Devils, freshman outside hitter
Lauren Borik (Belleville, Ill./Althoff) led the way with a match-high 13 kills and hit .385, while senior right side hitter
Sarah Jacobs (Carbondale, Ill./Murphysboro) had a season high 12 kills and hit .276 and junior middle hitter
Jordan Price (Fulton, Ill./Carl Sandburg College) posted her second career double-double of 12 kills and a career-high 16 digs. In addition, Price hit a season high .667 and matched a season high with five aces.
With her 13 kills, Borik extended her double-digit kill streak to 11 consecutive matches.
Junior setter
Emma Larson (Bellevue, Neb./Bellevue West) set the table for Webster's offense as she recorded a career high 29 assists and added eight digs. The 29 assists were the most recorded by a Gorlok player this season.
On defense, Webster recorded 71 digs and seven blocks as junior libero
Kristen Farrah (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell) had a match high 17 digs to push her career total to 1,787 digs and is now just 142 digs shy of the school's career dig mark of 1,929, which was set by Katie O'Toole from 2013-16. Farrah has now recorded double-digit digs in 56 consecutive matches.
In the opening set, both teams split the first six points, before Webster used a 12-0 run to take a 15-3 lead. The run began with two aces from Price and was capped by three consecutive kills by Jacobs. After WU's run, EC scored six of the next eight points to pull within 17-9. That would be as close as EC would get as the Gorloks closed the set by scoring eight of the final 12 points to seal its 25-13 set win. In the set, WU hit .250 and had 14 kills, while EC hit -.054.
Much like the first set, Webster scored the first three points and led 9-5 when the Red Devils used a 9-5 run to force the second and final tie of the set at 14. WU, though, would answer by scoring five straight points keyed by two kills from Borik to push in front 19-14. EC responded with a 4-2 run capped by a kill from Caitlin Miller to drop WU's lead to 21-18. The Gorloks would then close out the set by scoring four of the final six points to seal it 25-20 set win. In the set, WU hit .273 with 15 kills, while EC hit .162 with nine kills.
In the early going of the third set, the two teams played to ties at 2-2, 3-3 and 4-4, before the Gorloks used an 11-3 run to take a 15-7 lead. The run was capped by back-to-back kills by junior outside hitter
Samantha Kruse (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo). After the two teams traded points, the Gorloks would close out the set by scoring nine of the final 13 points to seal its 25-12 set win. In the final set, WU hit .441 and had 18 kills, while EC hit ..029 with just five kills.
Ariel Campbell paced the Red Devils with eight kills, while Miller added six kills and Sara Worrell had a double-double of 17 assists and 15 digs. Megan Masching added 14 digs for Eureka's defense.
The Gorloks will now take a week off before returning to action on Thursday, Oct. 24 with a 7 p.m. SLIAC match against Greenville University in Greenville, Ill. The Panthers, who shared the regular season SLIAC title last season with the Gorloks, picked up a four set win over the Gorloks at Grant Gymnasium on Sept. 25.
