On Sept. 12, the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) announced six Gorloks won the SLIAC Player of the Week award: Cameron Sakuma, Kyanne Ruth Williams, Noah Abraham, Angie Calabrese, Cassie Gray and Lauren Borik.
This was the most SLIAC Player of the Week awards for the school year. However, the Gorloks would come close again when five more Gorloks won Player of the Week awards on Oct. 3, creating 11 total players of the week.
One athlete who has won multiple Player of the Week awards this year is Borik. She won two awards in the first eight weeks. Borik was one of the six Players of the Week on Sept. 12 and won offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 19.
“It is an honor [to win a Player of the Week award] with so many talented players in this conference,” Borik said. “But it’s the ability of my teammates to stop the other team and to get me the ball at the right time and the right spot that gets me the recognition.”
Teamwork is a common factor with not just the volleyball team. Justin McCoy also won a golfer of the week award this year, which was the first Player of the Week in his college career.
“It all starts with the coaches, then the athletic director, then the school,” McCoy said “They allow these coaches to have all the resources they can to bring excellent student athletes to our teams and props to all the coaches. There are so many kids in the country and they bring them here.”
Webster University Athletic Director Scott Kilgallon spoke about Webster’s teamwork, not just as individual teams but as an athletic department as a whole.
“I think it is the culture,” Kilgallon said. “For example, women’s soccer played WashU the other night and we had a bunch of our teams show up as teams to support women’s soccer.It sets a culture of aiming high and having that support while you are trying to get to that level.”
Borik also spoke in more specifics about her teammates. One of those teammates is Cassie Gray, who also won a SLIAC Player of the Week award that week.
“Cassie is one of the people on the team that always brings a lot of energy to the court,” Borik said. “Whenever a player starts to become tired or get down because that player just made an error, it is Cassie’s presence on the court that allows everyone else to feed off of her energy and positivity so we can finish strong.”
From teamwork on the field to inspirations off the field, Borik and McCoy both honed in on family as what inspires them.
“[My dad] has done a lot for me,” McCoy said. “He has given up a lot of his time to help me get better and everyday I play, I think of him.”
Borik said more than one family member inspired her. She credited her parents and her grandparents for teaching her the importance of trying your best.
After what can only be described as a dominant start to the school year, Kilgallon said he wasn’t surprised and believes that Webster has the chance to have another six players of the week in the same week.