The Spalding University volleyball team fell to Webster University 25-22, 25-23, 25-19 in the SLIAC Championship game Saturday night.
                             
The Golden Eagles finish the season 18-16 overall with a 13-5 mark in SLIAC competition.
 
In the first set, the Golden Eagles fell behind early trailing 3-1 to start the game. Spalding recovered, outscoring the Gorloks 6-2 to take a 7-5 lead. An E.C Burkman kill pushed SU's lead to three and a Webster hitting error stretched it to four at 14-10. The Gorloks battled back, scoring seven points to SU's three to knot the score at 17. The Golden Eagles took two of the next three points to take a 20-18 lead, but a trio of Spalding errors allowed WU to take a 21-20 lead and the Gorloks went on to win set, 25-22.
 
After giving up the first point of the second set, the Golden Eagles took the next two to get off to a 2-1 start, but the Gorloks outscored SU 9-3 taking a 10-5 lead forcing Coach Yates to take a timeout. Spalding took seven of the next nine points out of the timeout to tie the score at 12-12. A Victoria Heitzman kill gave Spalding a 16-15 lead and the teams played to a 23-23 tie, but the Gorloks took the next two points to take the set 25-23 and a 2-0 advantage.
 
The Golden Eagles jumped out to a 4-2 advantage to start the third set. However, the Gorloks reeled of five consecutive points putting SU in a 7-4 hole. Spalding showed their resiliency, coming back to take the lead at 12-11, but Webster tallied seven consecutive points to take an 18-12 advantage and the Golden Eagles couldn't recover falling 25-19.  
 
At the conclusion of the championship game Spalding Head Coach Bridget Yates was named 2014 SLIAC Volleyball Coach of the Year.
 
The Golden Eagles had three players named to the All-Conference Team. Senior outside hitter E.C. Burkman led the group receiving First Team honors, while Jessica Diehl was named to the Second Team and Katelyn Cosgrove to the Third Team.  Victoria Heitzman was named the SLIAC All Sportsmanship Team.