The Journal

Issue date: 9/13/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Laila Wessel Freshman Mary Joe Schweitzer digs the ball and helps defend against Principia College on Sept. 11 in the Grant Gymnasium.

The Sept. 11 volleyball game promised to be an exciting rematch between the two strongest teams in last year's St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference - the Webster Gorloks and the Principia College Panthers. The best-of-five match turned out to be exactly what the fans expected.

The Panthers came into the Sept. 11 match as the reigning SLIAC regular season champions, while the Gorloks returned as SLIAC conference tournament champions. Principia returned Christina Speer, last year's SLIAC player of the year, and her presence on the floor greatly affected the strategy of the Gorloks.

"We tried to serve the ball aggressively, making Speer play on the back line," Head Coach Merry Graf said.

The Panthers won the first game of the match, but the Gorloks came back strong and won three games in a row. Nearly every game came down to the final few points with a first game score of 27-30, and scores of 30-27 and 30-28 in games three and four.

Coach Graf attributed the wins in the last three games to the Gorloks cutting down on their mistakes and playing much more cleanly as a team. They also seemed more comfortable as the first match progressed, executing plays smoothly as a unit.

The second match of the night, against University of Illinois-Springfield was just as tense as the first one, but this time the Gorloks ended up on the losing end. The Gorloks played from behind for the majority of the time, and could not seem to take and hold the lead. They managed to take game three from their opponents, forcing a game four. The Gorloks nearly made a comeback but Springfield held them off to finish the match with a score of 26-30 in the final game.

The Gorloks continue their conference season on Sept. 15 with another double header. The team will face Eureka College and Blackburn College. It is hard to determine how these teams will be in the conference this year.

Eureka has brought in a new head coach, Sandi Kelley, and Blackburn has brought in many new players. Eureka defeated Blackburn in their match on Sept. 11 in three games.

"I really think that the endurance of the players will be a big factor during Saturday's matches," said Graf.

The way that the schedule has been set up this year in the SLIAC is different from previous years. The host team will play two consecutive matches against two different conference opponents. The host team needs to be able to perform at their best for the two matches in order to be successful in the conference this year.

Sept. 8 and 9 the Gorloks participated in the Colorado College tournament, playing against University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse, Colorado College and Whitman University. Although the Gorloks lost two of the three matches, Coach Graf was pleased with the level of competition. By playing against strong squads in the early part of the season, they hoped to elevate their play for the conference.

Judging by how they played Sept. 11, it appears that strategy is already paying off.

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