FAULKNER, Ala. (August 18, 2017) – The Webber International University women's volleyball team cruised to a 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-9) win in its season opener over Life University at the Faulkner Invitational and Tine Davis Gymnasium. In their second match of the day, the Warriors then dropped a 3-1 (25-17, 25-23, 24-26, 25-16) decision to the University of Mobile.

Under the direction of new head coach Lindsey Martin, the Warriors are coming off of a 28-4 campaign where they lead The Sun Conference in assists per set (12.1) and digs per set (18.8) en route to claiming the conference regular-season and tournament championships.

After winning the first two sets, the Warriors jumped out to leads of 9-2 and 20-3 in the third set against Life to start the season off on a winning note.

Next, the Warriors, who entered the 2017 season ranked second in The Sun Conference Volleyball Coaches' Preseason Poll, turned their sights on the very team that knocked them out of the NAIA National Championship Opening Round last season.

Webber actually defeated the Rams 3-1 early during last year's campaign before the 3-1 decision to end the Warriors season in November. This time around, the Warriors held a 9-8 lead in set one before an 8-1 Mobile run opened up the set in favor of the Rams at 16-10.

The second set featured a back-and-forth finish as the Warriors led 20-19, and then battled back to tie the match at 23 after trailing by two before ultimately surrendering the next two points to the Rams. Webber would then go on to lead the entire way in set three before getting off to a slow start in set four at a 13-5 deficit.

Despite the loss in what could have been a statement matchup, Coach Martin hopes her players can look at the positives of the result and use it to become a closer and stronger team moving forward.

"As a player, you believe you should win every game you participate in; it's simply the expectation. As coaches and seasoned spectators, we understand that sometimes the 'win' is in the loss," said Martin. "We understand that the 'win' is not always in the posted numbers. The 'win', sometimes can be the lesson that players must stand up and try again; in the idea that there is more to learn; there is something to get better at, the understanding that practice is important; the truth that we have more to master, and that there is greater competition ahead." 

The Warriors defensive effort against Mobile was noticeable as senior Michelle Calderon collected an impressive 40 digs. Virginia Sagapolu and Amber Lake added 15 and 10 digs, respectively, in the match.

Setter Carlee Baxter began her sophomore season with a solid 53 combined assists (30 vs. Mobile) in the two matches. Sagapolu led Webber in kills in both matches at nine and 16, respectively, while Brittany Taksas was second in the category in both matches at seven and nine.

Coach Martin concluded, "Today gave us the opportunity to achieve victory and suffer defeat. Although the defeat will linger in our thoughts, it's important to recognize that what we learned today, in both matches, will help us achieve far greater things in the future. We learned a lot today. We learned a lot about ourselves and our team, and what more we need to do in order to be better. Thankfully, we have another opportunity tomorrow to continue to learn as well as achieve even greater things.  We won't dwell on today, we will look towards tomorrow and what we can accomplish as the Webber Women's Volleyball Program."

The Warriors will continue in the Faulkner Invitational tomorrow, Saturday, August 19, with two earlier matches as they battle Brenau University at 9 a.m., followed by tournament host Faulkner at 1 p.m.