CARLINVILLE, Ill. - Playing its first-ever match in school history as a nationally-ranked team, 22nd-ranked Webster Volleyball made quick work here Friday evening of Blackburn College as the Gorloks collected a three-set sweep (25-11, 25-19, 25-22) in a St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match that lasted less than 75 minutes at Dawes Gymnasium on the Blackburn campus.

The Gorloks, who moved into the national ranking at No. 22 in this week's AVCA Division III Coaches Poll, hit .264, recorded 44 kills and served a season-high 12 aces, which is tied for 17th on the school's single match list. 

With the win, Webster improves to 5-2 overall and 5-2 in the SLIAC, while Blackburn, who took 10th-ranked Westminster to five sets at home on Tuesday, fell to 3-5 overall and 3-5 in the league. The Gorloks will host the Blue Jays in a showdown between two nationally-ranked teams this coming Sunday.

Sophomore outside hitter Lauren Borik (Belleville, Ill./Althoff) led the Gorloks with 13 kills on .462 hitting, and she chipped in with three aces, five assists and eight digs. She was one two Gorlok hitters to hit over .300 in the match as junior outside/right side hitter Peyton Eikel (Dardenne Prairie, Mo./Liberty) had six kills and hit .333. 

Freshman right side hitter Alexis Wolf (Quincy, Ill./Quincy) added nine kills and junior setter/right side hitter Ali Spohr (Quincy, Ill.) recorded seven kills, 17 assists and 11 digs for her team-leading fifth double-double of the season. 

While Webster hit .265 on the night, the Gorloks held Blackburn to a .154 hitting percentage. The Gorloks had 21 more kills (44-23) than the Beavers and tallied 53 digs, including a team-high 13 from sophomore defensive specialist Tori Cichelero (St. Louis, Mo./Ursuline). 

Freshman setter Delaney Demman (Omaha, Neb./Central) recorded six of Webster's 12 aces in the match and added 14 assists. The six aces are tied for seventh-most in a match in school history and the most aces by a Gorlok since Jenna Rodriguez had seven aces at Fontbonne on Oct. 26, 2019. 

Despite the 12 aces, the Gorloks also recorded 10 service errors on the night and give the Beavers 30 points on errors. Blackburn had two aces and just five service errors in the loss. 

Kiah Bedwell and Lucy Magnussen each had six kills to pace Blackburn, Bedwell hit .357 and Amanda Swedberg recorded a match-high 14 digs. 

The Gorloks will look to make it two straight wins as a nationally-ranked team as they host Westminster College for a 1 p.m. SLIAC match at Grant Gymnasium. Per SLIAC rules, no fans are being allowed to attend indoor sporting events on any of the league's campus this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Set 1: The opening set belonged to the Gorloks as they had 13 kills and hit .312, along with recording five aces, including four from Demman. After the two teams traded the first two points of the set, the Gorloks used an 11-1 scoring run that was capped by a Demman ace to take a 12-2 lead in the set. Blackburn would stop WU's run with kills from Elizabeth Bowyer and Bedwell to move within 12-4, but Webster responded with a 10-4 run to push in front 22-8. After a kill from Bowyer sandwiched around two Gorlok errors brought BC within 22-11, the Gorloks would score the final three points of the set, including Demman capping the 25-11 win with back-to-back aces. While Webster hit .312, Blackburn had five kills and .115 in the set. 

Set 2: The two teams took turns holding the lead in the early going of the second set as the set it featured nine tied and six lead changes. The Beavers would eventually take a 7-5 lead, but the Gorloks would answer 12-6 run to take a 17-13 lead. The run began and ended with kills by Borik. Blackburn, though, wouldn't go away as they scored four consecutive points to tie the set at 17-all. Webster would come right back and close out the set by scoring eight of the final 10 points, including Borik recording back-to-back aces for the 23rd and 24th points of the set, before an error by Kasey Bean sealed WU's 25-19 set win. Webster hit .206 with 12 kills in the set and also have five aces, while Blackburn hit .176 on 11 kills. 

Set 3: In the final set, the two teams traded the first two points, but the Gorloks would then score 12 of the next 19 points to take a 13-8 lead. The Gorloks lead eventually pushed to 19-14, before BC scored three of the next five points to pull within 21-17. Webster, though, would use kills from Borik, junior libero Kyra Gensel (Clarkton, N.C./Harrells Christian) and sophomore middle hitter Julia Frey (Teutopolis, Ill./Teutopolis) to push in front 24-19. The Beavers would make things interesting as they scored three straight points to cut WU's lead to 24-22, before a kill by Spohr capped Webster's 25-22 set win. The Gorloks hit .277 with 19 kills in the set, while Blackburn had seven kills on .161 hitting.