WAVERLY, Iowa - Webster University continued its season opening road swing of matches here Friday as the Gorloks split its two matches on the first day of the two-day Wartburg Knights Volleyball Classic at Levick Arena on the Wartburg College campus.

The Gorloks, who improved to 4-3 on the season with the split, opened Friday's action by suffering a three-set loss to Coe College, before posting a four-set win over Wartburg in the second match of the day.

Friday's two matches came less than 24 hours after the Gorloks opened St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a three set victory on Thursday in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, against Iowa Wesleyan.

Against Wartburg (5-4), the Gorloks offense recorded 43 kills and and its defense had 98 digs.

Leading the way for Webster's defense was junior libero Kristen Farrah (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell), who recorded 42 digs. Along with Farrah's 42 digs, junior outside hitter Samantha Kruse (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) had 19 digs and added nine kills in the win, while sophomore defensive specialist Kyra Gensel (Clarkton, NC/Harrells Christian) added 10 digs for her fourth double-digit match this season. 

Webster's offense was paced by a 16 kill performance from freshman outside hitter Lauren Borik (Belleville, Ill./Althoff), while junior middle hitter Jordan Price (Fulton, Ill./Carl Sandburg College) added 11 kills and hit .357. 

Senior setter Jenna Rodriguez (Smithton, Ill./Freeburg) finished the match with a career high 22 assists and fell one dig short (nine) of a double-double. Junior setter Emma Larson (Bellevue, Neb./Bellevue West) added nine assists and four digs, while Spohr had six assists and three digs. 

The Gorloks also had five aces in the win, including two each from Price and sophomore setter Ali Spohr (Quincy, Ill./Quincy). 

Wartburg was paced by 16 kills from Natalie Clayberg, while Dani Johnson and Jayme Willemssen each had 10 kills in the loss. 

The Knights recorded 101 digs in the match as Sydney Rottinghaus and Katie Foster each had 29 digs, while Wartburg also had seven blocks.

Meanwhile, in the match against the Kohawks (6-3), the Gorloks recorded 30 kills, five aces and hit .113 in the setback, while its defense recorded 88 digs, including Farrah finishing with 32 digs. With her 87 digs on Friday, Farrah pushed her career total to 1,498, which pushes her to seventh on the school's all-time dig chart. She is now just 431 digs shy of Katie O'Toole's career school mark of 1,929 digs. 

Along with Farrah's 32 digs, Kruse added 12 digs and had 10 kills for her third double-double of the year and hit .273, while Rodriguez had a double-double of 16 assists and 10 digs. The double-double was her third double-double of the season. Price added seven kills, while Borik and senior right side hitter Sarah Jacobs (Carbondale, Ill./Murphysboro) each had five kills.

Gensel had a career high three aces and added nine digs in the loss. 

Kate Tidman led the Kohawks with 21 kills and hit .326, while Madi Pearson added 12 kills and hit .367. Coe finished the match hititng .259 as a team and recorded 50 kills and tallied five aces. 

Webster will conclude the two-day event at Wartburg with a 12 p.m. match on Saturday, Sept. 14 against Concordia-Minnesota. Following Saturday's match with the Cobbers, the Gorloks will open the home portion of its 2019 schedule with a 7 p.m. match on Wednesday, Sept. 18 in Grant Gymnasium against Rose-Hulman.