ST. LOUIS - Webster University Volleyball continued its season opening eight-match road swing here Wednesday as the Gorloks picked up a hard-fought four-set victory over St. Louis College of Pharmacy (25-11, 19-25, 25-22, 25-22) in a non-conference match at STLCOP Gymnasium.

With the victory, Webster improves to 2-2 on the season, while STLCOP falls to 3-5 on the season. 

In Wednesday's match, the Gorloks had three players record double-digit kills as junior middle hitter Jordan Price (Fulton, Ill./Carl Sandburg College) had a career high 13 kills, added 13 digs for her first career double-double. In addition to Price, who hit .310 in the win, junior outside hitter Samantha Kruse (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) added 12 kills and 14 digs for her first double-double of the season and 11th of her career and freshman outside hitter Lauren Borik (Belleville, Ill./Althoff) had 10 kills and hit .323. 

Along with the double-doubles by Price and Kruse, senior setter Jenna Rodriguez (Smithton, Ill./Freeburg) and junior setter Emma Larson (Bellevue, Neb./Bellevue West) each also had double-doubles as Rodriguez had 18 assists and 17 digs and Larson had 16 assists and 14 digs. Both Rodrigez and Larson have now posted two double-doubles this season.

As a team, Webster had 47 kills and hit .152 in the match, while the Eutectics had 46 kills, but hit just .104, including hitting less than .050 in two of the four sets. Along with the 47 kills, Webster also had 10 aces and has now recorded 41 aces in four matches this season. 

The Gorloks hit over .150 in three of the four matches, including hitting .290 with 11 kills and two attack errors in the opening set. 

Larson, Kruse and sophomore defensive specialist Kyra Gensel (Clarkton, N.C./Harrells Christian combined for seven of those aces as Larson had three, while Kruse and Gensel each had two. Kruse leads the Gorloks this season with 13 aces. 

Defensively, Webster had 101 digs, which is the second most this season in a match by the Gorloks and had 10 total teram blocks, including three solo blocks. Leading the way defensively for WU was junior libero Kristen Farrah (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell) had a match-high 30 digs to extend her double-digit dig streak to 39 consecutive matches. Price and Kruse combined for 12 blocks and all three of WU's solo blocks. 

In the first set, WU jumped out to a 10-5 lead and after the STLCOP scored two straight points, the Gorloks would score nine consecutive points to take a 19-7 lead. The run was keyed by three kills from Kruse. Following WU's run, STLCOP scored three straight points to drop the Gorloks lead to 19-10, before WU closed out the set by scoring five of the set's final six points, including capping the 25-11 set win with a kill by senior right side hitter Sarah Jacobs (Carbondale, Ill./Murphysboro). 

Pharmacy, who was playing their first home match of the 2019 season, jumped out to an 8-5 lead in the second set and led 13-11 when the Gorloks used a 7-3 run to take an 18-17 lead following an ace by Larson. After the home team scored two straight points to take a 19-18 lead, the Gorloks retied the set on a kill by Borik. That would be as close as WU would get as STLCOP scored the final six points of the set to earn a 25-19 win. 

The Gorloks opened the third set by scoring six of the first eight points to take a 6-2 lead. The lead, though, was short lived as STLCOP scored six of the next eight points to tie the set at 8. The Gorloks would then used a 9-7 run to take a 17-15. The run was capped by an ace from Gensel. The Eutectics would respond with a 6-2 run to take a 21-19 lead. WU, though, answered right back as they scored four straight points, including capping the run with an ace by Kruse and kill by Jacobs to take a 23-21 lead. After a kill by Lauren Brown pushed Pharmacy within a point a 23-22, Price and Borik had back-to-back kills to seal WU's 25-22 win and take a 2-1 lead in the match.

Webster would jump out to a 5-3 lead in the fourth set, before Pharmacy used a 6-2 run to take a 9-7 lead. The Gorloks would respond with a 10-5 run to take a 17-14 lead. The run was keyed by three kills and a solo block by Price. The Eutectics answered with a 6-2 run to take a 20-19 lead. After the teams traded points, the Gorloks would close the match by scoring five of the final six points, including sealing the match and 25-22 set win on a kill by Kruse. 

Brown paced Pharmacy with a match-high 18 kills, added 20 digs and hit .286. In addition to Brown, Cassady Reno added seven kills, seven digs and hit .300 and Aubree Mann tallied 21 digs in the loss. 

The Eutectics tallied 95 digs and seven team blocks the match and also recorded five aces, but had six service errors. 

Webster will now take about eight days off before returning to action on Thursday, Sept. 12 as they open St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, with a 7 p.m. match against Iowa Wesleyan. WU's first home match of the 2019 season is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 18 against Rose-Hulman at 7 p.m. in Grant Gymnasium.