Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Webster University volleyball team closed out the regular season with a pair of conference matches on Saturday for Senior Day. The Gorloks generated a split on the day by defeating Mississippi University for Women by the final of 3-0 before falling o Blackburn in five-sets. With the regular season officially complete, Webster has secured the fifth-seed in the upcoming 2024 SLIAC Volleyball Tournament. 

Prior to the match, the Webster University volleyball program led by Head Coach Merry Graf honored four seniors part of the Class of 2025 for their incredible careers as a Gorlok. All four seniors in Ellie Biedenstein, Alyssa Jones, Cassie Gray, and Madison Katz all earned the start for the opening match. 

Match #1: Webster 3, MUW 0

Webster and MUW opened the match with back-and-forth play as an assisted block by Grace White and Olivia Powell gave the Gorloks the 4-3 advantage. Moments later, the Gorloks and Owls both added 3-0 runs that rallied the set to the score of 7-6. In the WU run, Katz and Megan Zablonski both hammered down a kill. 

Immediately following the MUW run, the Gorloks countered with a 6-1 run that increased the lead to 13-7. In the run, White and Zablonski added back-to-back kills while Eva Tarlos added a kill. Webster and MUW continued the set exchanging points which rallied to a four-point lead at 16-12. Moments later, the Gorloks achieved set-point with a 8-1 run that started on a kill by White. In addition, Zablonski and Tarlos added a kill while Jaycee Lewis capped it off with a service ace. The Gorloks secured the early one-set advantage on a kill by Tarlos. 

The Gorloks and Owls opened the second set with more back-and-forth action that included kills by Zablonski and Biedenstein for the early 4-2 lead. Moments later, MUW took their first lead of the match with a 4-1 run to the set-score of 6-5. The Gorloks regained the lead with a 4-0 run that featured a kill by White and a service ace by Lewis. 

With the one-point advantage at 10-9, the Gorloks countered with a 7-0 run that took the 17-9 advantage. In the run, Tarlos added two kills as Zablonski added one while Katz contributed a service ace. The Owls chipped back and cut the lead down to four on three separate occasions with the last time at 22-18. The Gorloks closed out the set with a 3-0 run that included a service ace by Lewis for the 2-0 match lead. 

The Gorloks opened the final set with the 4-2 advantage that included two kills by Katz and a service ace by Biedenstein. Moments later, Webster took the 11-2 lead with a 7-0 run. In the run, Tarlos added a service ace while White and Powell hammered down a kill each. 

With the 13-7 lead, the Gorloks took the double-digit lead of 18-8 with a 5-1 run that included a service ace by Lewis. Webster and MUW closed out the match exchanging points as five different Gorloks recorded a kill which included Beidenstein, Tarlos, Arianna Wyatt, White, and Jones. 

For the match, Zablonski led the offensive attack with seven kills while Tarlos and White had six each. Senior setter Ellie Biedenstein dished out 12 assists while Delaney Morio added 11 assists. Defensively, Katz led with 13 digs as Jaycee Lewis collected 10 while Tarlos had two solo blocks. 

Match #2: Webster 2, Blackburn 3

Webster and Blackburn opened the match exchanging 3-0 runs that included a kill by Morio which was followed up with back-to-back service aces from Lauren Harms. Moments later, the Gorloks answered with a 7-1 run that took the 10-5 lead. In the run, Tarlos and Zablonski added a kill while Lewis added another service ace to her day. The run was capped off on an assisted block by Tarlos and Powell. 

With the three-point advantage at 11-8, Webster increased their lead to 18-10 with a 7-2 run. In the run Powell added two kills while Tarlos added a service ace. White capped off the run with three consecutive kills. Moments later, Blackburn chipped back with a 7-2 run of their own that cut the lead down to two at 21-19. After an attacking error by Blackburn, the Gorloks closed out the set with a 3-0 run that featured two kills by Powell and a service ace by Tarlos.  

Webster opened the set second with the 6-3 advantage that included five kills, two by Jones and Leah McGrath while Morio added one. Moments later, the Gorloks increased their lead to 15-6 with a 9-2 run, In the run, Tarlos and Harms recorded two kills each while Powell and Jones added one kill apiece. 

Immediately following the WU run, Blackburn cut the lead down to six at 17-11 with a 5-2 run but that was the closest the Beaver would reach in the set. Both teams continued the set with back-and-forth play to the set-score of 22-15. The Gorloks closed out the set with a 3-0 run that included a kill by White as Katz slammed down back-to-back kills for set victory. 

The Gorloks jumped to an early 10-4 lead in the third set that included five kills and three blocks. White and McGrath contributed two kills each while Tarlos added one. At the net, Harms and White recorded a solo block each while Harms and White secured an assisted block. 

The game of runs continued as Blackburn chipped back and took the lead at 17-13 with a 13-3 run. Webster immediately regained the lead and countered with a 9-1 run that took the 22-19 lead. In the run, the Gorloks hammered down a total of six kills led by Harms and Zablonski with two each. However, the Beavers closed out the set with a 5-0 run for the set victory. 

Webster and Blackburn started the fourth set with back-and-forth action as the Beavers took the early 4-3 lead. Moments later, the Gorloks took the 11-5 lead with an 8-1 run that included two kills by Tarlos and a service ace by Biedenstein. Both teams continued to battle and rallied the set to a Gorlok advantage at 16-9.

The Fighting Beavers once again chipped back in the match and countered with a 11-1 run that took the 20-17 advantage. The Gorloks cut the deficit to one at 20-21 that included a kill by Jones. However, Blackburn closed out the set with a 4-0 run that forced a fifth set. 

In the fifth set, Blackburn jumped out to an early 10-4 advantage. Immediately following that start by Blackburn, Webster answered with a 6-2 run that cut the deficit down to two at 10-12. In the run, White and Tyler Ramstack added two kills each while Harms added one kill. However, Blackburn closed out the match with a 3-0 run that generated the split on the day.  

For the match, White led the Gorloks with 13 kills while Powell and McGrath added eight each. Setter Biedenstein and Morio combined for 45 assists led by Beidenstein with 24. Defensively, four student-athletes recorded double-digit dig marks led by Harms with 21 while Lewis collected 19. At the net, Jones and White recorded three solo blocks each. 

The Gorloks will continue their season competing in the 2024 SLIAC Volleyball Tournament visiting Spalding University on Thursday, November 14 for the quarterfinal match starting at 6:00 PM eastern time in Louisville, Kentucky.