The Journal

Issue date: 11/1/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Laila Wessel After losing the first two close games against Peru State University, the Webster women's volleyball team battled back to win the next three games and the match Oct. 27 at the Washington University Bears Classic.

The regular season for Webster University's volleyball team is coming to a close, but that doesn't mean that its final games are any less important. One regular season match remains against MacMurray College on Nov. 1.

The Gorloks swept Westminster in three games on Oct. 30, and they still hold a one-game lead for first place in the SLIAC over Principia. The Gorloks will need to win both of these games in order to maintain sole possession of first place.

The game on the 30th was Senior Night. The Gorloks said farewell to seniors Chrissy Engle and Crystal Spinner, two players who have greatly contributed to the team's success during their careers.

Because the Gorloks are in first place, they are set up for the top seed in the conference tournament Nov. 3. This spot in the tournament is an obvious advantage that both teams will be fighting for during this last week of the season. In previous meetings with MacMurray and Westminster, the Gorloks beat both teams in three games. But the matches are played for a reason, and WU needs to be able to play at their highest level for the rest of the week to hopefully push through the conference tournament.

The Gorloks are used to the pressure of needing to win. The matches this week would not hold the importance they do now if WU had not been successful the week before.

The team started off last week with a win Oct. 23 in a match against Maryville University, and then followed it up with another big win on Oct. 25 against conference rival Fontbonne University. These two wins set up the importance of the matches being played this week.

Two more wins would create even more momentum that would be in favor of WU.

As it stands right now, the Gorloks will have the top seed in the conference tournament. If they are able to take the conference tournament, the Gorloks may be able to use last weekend's Washington University tournament as a way to prepare for possible competition in the regional tournament.

The SLIAC is not known for being a strong athletic conference, so any team coming out of the SLIAC into a regional tournament usually does not receive a strong seed.

The Gorloks went .500 during the Wash U Tournament, beating William Woods University and Peru State College, while losing matches to Wash U and Adrian College.

In order to be successful during the regional tournament, the Gorloks need to be able to learn from these losses.

The losses don't affect their standing in conference so while they are a blemish on their overall regular season record, they don't affect the conference standings.

If they can strengthen the weaknesses that led to the losses during that tournament, they will have a better chance of advancing not only through the conference tournament but the regional tournament as well.

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