CARLINVILLE, Ill. – The Webster University volleyball team was back in action this afternoon when they traveled to Carlinville, Illinois, to compete in the Blackburn (Ill.) College Tri-Match. The Gorloks played two matches on the day as they fell to Greenville (Ill.) University by a final score of 3-1 and Blackburn (Ill.) College by a final score of 3-2. With the losses, the Gorloks fall to 5-5 on the year and 0-2 in SLIAC play.

In their first match of the day, the Gorloks finished with 45 kills on 162 attacks for a .173 attacking percentage. They added five service aces, five blocks, 40 assists, and 79 digs. The Panthers finished with 58 kills on 178 attacks for a .174 attacking percentage.

After dropping the first two sets in the match, the Gorloks came out in the third set and exchanged points with the Panthers. The game remained close through most of the set but with the score tied at 16 the Gorloks went on a 5-0 run to take a 21-16 lead in the game. They continued to play well as the set progressed and closed out the Panthers down the stretch to cut the Greenville lead to 2-1.

Webster carried over their momentum into the fourth set and held a 17-13 advantage midway through the game. However, the Panthers answered with a 12-1 run to close out the game and solidify the match.

Lauren Borik led the way for Webster as she finished with a team high 10 kills to go along with 17 assists. Delaney Demman and Emma Leppien ran the offense for the Gorloks as Demman finished with 15 assists and Leppien finished with 11. Demman also added 10 digs while Cassie Gray finished with a team high 21 digs.

In their second match of the day, Webster tallied 48 kills on 209 attacks for a 0.067 attacking percentage. They added seven service aces, 11 blocks, 46 assists, and 114 digs. The Beavers finished with 45 kills on 200 attacks for a 0.080 attacking percentage.

The Gorloks once again found themselves trailing 2-0 after the first two sets but were able to bounce back in the third. They found themselves trailing 8-1 early but battled back to tie the score at 17. They ended the set on an 8-4 run and cut the Beavers lead to 2-1 in the match.

They carried over that momentum in the fourth set and jumped out to a commanding 14-4 advantage. They never took their foot off the pedal in the game as they cruised to a 25-11 win to force a decisive fifth set.

The teams came out in the fifth set and exchanged points for most of the game. With the score tied at 10, the Beavers ended the set on a 5-1 run to solidify the match.

Allysa Jones and Abby Jacobs led the attack for Webster as they both tallied 12 kills in the match. The Gorloks had three players reach double figure assists as Ellie Biedenstein finished with a team high 15 while Delaney Demman added 12 and Emma Leppien finished with 10. In addition, Cassie Gray tallied a match high 34 digs, Madison Katz added 23 digs, and Ellie Biedenstein finished with 12 digs.

The Gorloks will return to the court on Tuesday, September 27^th when they host Eureka (Ill.) College for a SLIAC matchup. The game is set to start at 7 p.m. in Grant Gymnasium.