FULTON, Mo. - No. 25 Webster University saw its stay in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Volleyball Tournament come to an end here Wednesday evening as the Gorloks fell in three sets to No. 20 Westminster (22-25, 23-25, 19-25) in the semifinals of the SLIAC Tournament at the Historic Gym. 

With the setback, Webster falls to 11-4 on the season and will now turn its attention to the AVCA Division III National Invitational Tournament, which is scheduled for next weekend, while Westminster improved to 13-2 and advanced to Friday's championship match that will be played at 17th-ranked Greenville, who swept fifth-seeded Fontbonne in Wednesday's other semifinal match. 

Despite the loss, the Gorloks got another strong offensive showing from sophomore outside hitter Lauren Borik (Belleville, Ill./Althoff) as she put down 16 kills and added 10 kills for her sixth double-double of the season and she hit .361 on 36 attempts. Wednesday's performance followed Borik's 20 kills and .429 attack percentage in its first round match this past Saturday against Westminster.

While Borik had a match-high 16 kills, Westminster's offense was led by Haley Menke as she had 14 kills and hit .250, while Eryka Wanyonyi had eight kills and 15 digs in the win. Erica Schrader had 14 digs and Gretchen Durbala had 30 assists and seven digs. 

For the match, Webster hit .133 as they had 36 kills as along with Borik's 16 kills, junior outside/right side hitter Peyton Eikel (Dardenne Prairie, Mo./Liberty) added nine kills in the setback and junior setter/right side hitter Ali Spohr (Quincy, Ill./Quincy) had 12 assists and seven digs. 

Defensively, Webster held a 65-55 edge in digs as junior libero Kyra Gensel (Clarkton, N.C./Harrells Christian) had 13 digs as was one of four Gorloks with double-digit digs in the match as Borik and sophomore defensive specialist Tori Cichelero (St. Louis, Mo./Ursuline) each had 12 digs and sophomore setter/right side hitter Mary Nelson (St. Louis, Mo./Bishop DuBourg) had 10 digs and nine assists. 

The Gorloks were outblocked, 3-2 as junior middle hitter Kylie Burke (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West) had a solo block, while senior Hayley Taylor (Highland, Ill./Highland) and sophomore middle hitter Julia Frey (Teutopolis, Ill./Teutopolis) each assisted on a block in the third set. 

Westminster had three aces to two for Webster and both teams had four service errors in the match. 

The Gorloks are scheduled  to return to action next weekend as they will play three pool play matches in the AVCA Division III National Invitational Tournament on Friday, April 9 and then play bracket play matches on Saturday, April 10. The event will be held at The Academy Volleyball Club in Indianapolis, Ind. 
 

Set 1: The opening set was a back-and-forth affair as it featured 11 ties and six lead changes. Webster jumped in front 9-4 early in the opening set, before four Gorlok errors and kills from Wanyonyi and Natalie Needy gave Westminster a 10-9 lead. From that point, the set would be tied at 11 and 12 until the Blue Jays used a 6-4 run to push out to an 18-16 lead. The Gorloks. though, would respond by scoring five of the next set points to take a 21-19 lead. The run began with a kill from freshman right side/middle hitter Katie Eskildson (Klamath Falls, Ore./Triad) and capped by an attack error from Wanyonyi. Westminster would answer back by closing the set by scoring six of the final seven points to earn a 25-22 win. Neither team was efficient in the set as the Gorloks hit .089 and Westminster hit .108.  

Set 2: The second set was a match-up between Borik and Menke as they combined for 13 kills as Borik had six and Menke had seven as the set had six ties and one lead change. Webster opened the set by scoring the first three points and led 13-7 when Westminster used a 10-4 run to tie the set at 17-all. From that point, the team would trade points until the Blue Jays ended the set by scoring three of the final four points, including capping the 25-23 set win on a kill by Menke. Webster outhit Westminster, .200 to .158 in the set. 

Set 3: Westminster dominated the third set for the most part as they scored the first four points and led 5-1 when the Gorloks used a 5-1 run keyed by three kills from Borik to tie the set at 6-all. The tie would be the only one of the set. Following the tie, Westminster responded with an 11-1 run to push out to a 17-7 lead. Webster, though, would begin to show some life as they responded to Westminster's run by using a 7-5 run that was capped by a Borik kill to pull within 22-14. After the Blue Jays scored two of the next three points to take a 24-15 lead, the Gorloks would score four straight points thanks to three Westminster errors and a kill from Eikel to drop Westminster's lead to 24-19. The Blue Jays would complete the sweep following an attack error by Burke to post a 25-19 win. In the set, Westminster hit .135 with 12 kills and 17 digs, while Webster had nine kills and 23 digs.