LAKE WALES, Fla. (October 7, 2017) – In what was arguably one of the biggest matchups of the season for the Warriors, the Webber International University women's volleyball team came to play as it upset No. 19 Bellevue University by a final score of 3-2 (26-24, 20-25, 13-25, 28-26, 15-10) on Saturday morning at the Warner University Royals Classic and Turner Athletic Center.

The match was dubbed as The Sun Conference's Volleyball Game of the Week, and it certainly lived up to the hype as the two teams traded blow after blow before the Warriors ultimately pulled out the hard-fought, five-set victory.

Webber (14-4), which now has the potential to improve its standing in the national coaches' poll (currently receiving votes), earned its first win this season over a team nationally ranked in the NAIA. Bellevue (20-5), which made the trip to Florida all the way from Nebraska, lost for only the fifth time all season, all against teams who were nationally ranked or receiving votes, and also lost for the first time in five-set matches so far this season. Bellevue had won 14 or its last 15 matches before Saturday.

After falling for the first time in The Sun Conference action the night before (against Saint Thomas University on October 6), the Warriors came out on fire Saturday morning, racing to a 7-1 lead in the opening set. Webber kept the Bruins to at least a four-point deficit all the way through the first set until six straight points by Bellevue tied the match at 23-23. Kills by Virginia Salanoa-Sagapolu and Brittany Taksas on two of the next four points helped Webber hold on and take the opening set.

Head Coach Lindsey Martin had this to say about her team's performance, "What a great way to finish a long week of four back-to-back matches. Beating the 19th-ranked team in the country is great in and of itself, but being able to beat them after a lackluster loss the night before is a tremendous feat and speaks to our continued growth and maturity as a team. I'm incredibly proud of our team's ability to fight through their soreness and exhaustion after the long week, and not let anything hold them back from finding a way to win today."

Webber held an early lead in all five sets on Saturday, but still found itself down two sets to one and needing to comeback in the fourth to keep its hopes alive.

Down 24-23 in set four and only one point away from a second straight defeat on back-to-back days, the Warriors dug down deep and used kills by Salanoa-Sagapolu and Carlee Baxter to jump ahead at 25-24. Webber went ahead 26-25 after a kill by Emily Bowen, and then finished the set off with a kill by Taksas and a service ace by Gilmary Ramos.

Webber jumped out to leads of 8-3 and 10-4 in the final set as the closest the Bruins would get from there was to within three before Baxter earned another kill and Cameron Neely and Taksas combined on a block to finish it off.

Michelle Calderon helped lead the way for Webber with a career-high 42 digs. Two other Warriors reached double digits in digs (Amber Lake 16; Baxter 12), as Webber finished with 101 digs in total. Baxter also dished out 44 assists while Taksas and Salanoa-Sagaplu tied for the team-lead in kills (15) for the second straight match.

Also on the statistical side, Neely added 12 kills for the second straight match, and Taksas and Brianna Roque each had three blocks to go along with two for both Neely and Bowen. Bowen also had eight kills and five digs for a nice well-rounded performance, and Ramos and Kobi Allston both had huge moments, coming up with eight and six digs, respectively.

After a challenging stretch featuring four matches in four days, culminating with the No. 19 team in the country, Webber will get a little bit of a break before returning to action in a TSC matchup at Southeastern University at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, October 11. The Warriors will host Ave Maria University at 4 p.m. on Thursday, October 12.