CLAYTON, Mo. - Webster University Volleyball opened the 2019 season here Friday afternoon by splitting two matches on the first day of the Washington University in St. Louis Bear Invitational at the Varsity Gym on the WashU campus. 

The Gorloks, who opened its 36th season of competition on Friday, began the 2019 campaign with a hard-fought five-set defeat to North Park (25-22, 25-20, 22-25, 22-25, 15-17) and then picked up a three set sweep over Fontbonne (25-13, 25-7, 25-21) to complete the first day of the two day event. Webster will conclude the event on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. against Hendrix College.

In Friday's two matches, Webster's offense recorded 82 kills and hit .132, including hitting .202 as a team against Fontbonne, while its defense had 163 digs, 21 blocks and also recorded 22 aces, including 13 aces against Fontbonne. The 13 aces were most in a match since recording 15 against Blackburn on Oct. 6, 2018.

Freshman outside hitter Lauren Borik (Belleville, Ill./Althoff) led the way for Webster with 28 kills on the day, including 18 kills in the five-set match against North Park. In addition to Borik, junior middle hitter Jordan Price (Fulton, Ill./Carl Sandburg CC) added 15 kills, hit .300, had seven aces, 10 digs and 16 blocks in the two matches, including a Webster single match career high tying 12 blocks against North Park. The 12 blocks tied Lilo Whitener, who had 12 blocks against both Franklin College on Nov. 1, 2002 and Maryville University on Oct. 22, 2002 and Emily Ratkewicz, who had 12 blocks against Spalding on Oct. 22, 2011. 

In addition to Borik and Price, junior outside hitter Samantha Kruse (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) had 12 kills, 22 digs and six aces. Four of those six aces came against North Park. 

Defensively, Webster held its two opponents to a combined .081 hitting percentage and recorded 163 digs and 21 total blocks, including 15 blocks against North Park. Junior Kristen Farrah (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell), who led Division III in digs last season with a single season school record 882, picked up where she left off from last year as she had 47 digs and recorded 20-plus digs in each match. Farrah moved within 601 digs of the school's career mark for digs (1,929), which was set by Katie O'Toole from 2013-16. 

In addition to Farrah, senior setter Jenna Rodriguez (Smithton, Ill./Freeburg) had 27 digs and 38 assists, including a double-double of 20 assists and 19 digs against North Park and sophomore defensive specialist Kyra Gensel (Clarkton, N.C./Harrells Christian) had 23 digs, including a career high 21 digs in the five-set match against North Park. 

Against Fontbonne, Webster's defense held the Griffins to a -.049 attack percentage, including holding them to negative hitting percentages in the final two games. Webster hit .202 in the win, including hitting .300 in the first set and .229 in the second set to pick up its first win of the season. 

In the opening set, Webster used a 13-1 run to turn a 3-all tie into a 16-4 lead. The run was aided by three aces from Price and four kills from Borik, who had eight kills and hit .278 in the match. FBU would pull within 19-8, before the Gorloks closed the set on a 6-5 run to post a 25-13 win.

The second set belonged to the Gorloks as they hit .229 and held FBU to a -.143 attack percentage en route to earning a 25-7 win and take a 2-0 lead in the set. 

Webster jumped in front 3-0 in the third set thanks to two aces by Rodriguez and a kill by Kruse, before FBU used an 6-3 run to tie the set a 6-all. The Gorloks, though, responded with an 11-5 run to take a 17-12 lead. The run was capped by back-to-back aces from Kruse. The Griffins would come back with a 7-1 run to take a 19-18 lead following an attack error by Borik. That would be the final lead of the set for FBU as WU closed the set on a 7-2 run, including capping the 25-21 win with an assisted block by Price and sophomore Natasha Norris (Elgin, Texas/Carol Morgan).

In the set, Borik led the way with eight kills, while Kruse and Price each added six kills and Norris tallied a career-high four kills and hit .800. 

Rodriguez and Price each had five of Webster's 13 aces, while Farrah had 22 digs and Price recorded four blocks in the win. 

Olivia Tallo paced Fontbonne (0-2) with seven kills and a .192 attack percentage. Megan Schaller had 18 digs and Jill Reando posted double-double of 13 assists and 11 digs.  

Meanwhile, in the season opener against North Park, both teams struggled to hit with some efficiency as the teams combined to hit .120 in the match, but both teams defenses were on top of its game as they combined for a total of 215 digs, 22 blocks and added a combined 16 aces. 

On offense, Webster hit .092 and NPU hit .146 as the two teams combined for 108 kills as NPU had 61 kills and WU finished with 47 kills. 

In the opening set, which featured seven ties and four lead changes, Webster used a 10-3 run to turn a 10-9 deficit into a 19-13 lead. The Vikings responded with a 9-4 run to drop WU's lead to 23-22. That would be as close as NPU would get, though, as a service error by Bethany Geidner and an assisted block by Price and senior right side hitter Sara Jacobs (Carbondale, Ill./Murphysboro) sealed WU's 25-22 set win. Both teams combined for 55 digs, four blocks, seven aces and 23 kills in the set. 

Much like the first set, the second set Webster used an 11-5 run to turn an 11-10 lead into a 22-15 advantage. The Gorloks run was aided by four Viking errors and capped by a kill from Price. The Vikings wouldn't go away as they used a 5-2 run to pull within 24-20 following a kill by Kailyn Matthews, but a service error by Reagan Clement gave WU a 25-20 win and a 2-0 lead in the set. In the set, Webster had 21 digs, four blocks and two aces. 

NPU would jump out to a 10-4 lead in the third set and led 15-11 when the Gorloks used a 9-2 run keyed by three kills from Borik to take a 20-17 lead that forced the Vikings to take their final timeout of the set. The Vikings, though, would regroup and used a 6-0 run out of the timeout to push in front 23-20. After the teams traded points, NPU would seal its 25-22 set win with back-to-back kills from Kajsa Meyer and Geidner. 

The fourth set was a back-and-forth affair as it featured six ties and four lead changes as WU trailed 12-7 and 14-9 when they used a 5-2 run to pull within 16-14. The Vikings would extend its lead to 21-15, before WU answered with a 7-3 run to pull within 24-22 following an ace by Kruse. The Gorloks, though, couldn't get any closer as a bad set by Jacobs sealed NPU's 25-22 set win that tied the match a 2-all.

Perhaps the most exciting set of the match was the fifth one as their were a combined 11 ties and five lead changes. In the set, neither team led by more than two points. WU would jump in front 5-3 in the fifth and deciding set, but NPU responded with a 4-2 run to tie the set at 7-all. From that point, the teams would trade points until a kill by Jacobs and an attack error by Clement gave WU an 11-9 lead. NPU, though, answered with a 4-1 run that was capped by a Borik attack error to take a 14-13 lead. WU came right back to tie the set on a kill by Borik and and after a kill by Matthews gave NPU a 15-14 lead, Matthews would give that point right back as she recorded a service error to tie things at 15. The Vikings would respond by scoring the set's final two points, including capping the 17-15 win with a kill by Emily Nytko. In the set, NPU hit .280, while WU hit just .037.

Borik paced Webster's offense with 18 kills, while Price added nine kills, hit .381 and had 12 kills in her collegiate debut. In addition to Borik and Price, Kruse had six kills and 13 digs and Rodriguez posted that double-double of 20 assists and 19 digs. 

Farrah and Gensel combined for 46 of WU's 105 digs as Farrah recorded 25 and Gensel had a career high 21. 

Matthews paced NPU with 22 kills and 19 digs, while Clement added 12 kills. Bianca Tomuta had 34 digs and Christina Gatta posted a double-double of 23 assists and 13 digs.