LAKELAND, Fla. (October 17, 2018) – Despite an incredible 45 digs by Nayrelis Pantoja Santos and two 25-plus kill performances by Virginia Salanoa-Sagapolu and Emily Bowen, the Warriors' 13-match winning streak came to an end on Wednesday night at the Furnace as the Webber International University women's volleyball team fell to Southeastern University 3-2 (26-24, 27-29, 25-23, 17-25, 16-14).

In addition to Pantoja Santos' career-high in digs and the career-highs in kills for both Salanoa-Sagapolu (29) and Bowen (27), Valerie Vargas also added the seventh double-double of her season with 34 assists and a career-high 19 digs while Gilmary Ramos dished out a career-high 29 assists.

Entering the match, Salanoa-Sagapolu had collected 3.6 kills per set in TSC play, ranking second in the conference, while Pantoja Santos was averaging 6.2 digs per game versus conference squads, the most of any Sun Conference player.

Additionally, Hannah Tannone finished with 12 digs and Mekenzie Breuklander had 10 digs as eight players between the two teams reached double-digit digs.

Svenja Koenig added six kills, four digs and two blocks; Julia Ferraro added three kills, four digs and three blocks; and Samantha Davila finished with four kills, three digs and three blocks.

Just like the last time Webber played at Southeastern, the match went to five sets and was a nail-biter throughout. This time around in the fifth set, the Warriors looked poised to steal another win on Southeastern's home court with a 14-12 lead.

The Fire would battle back, however, with four straight points all on kills to end Webber's 2018 Sun Conference unbeaten streak.

The 4-0 run to end the match was not the only such run of the night for Southeastern to take a set away from the Warriors.

In the third set tied at one set apiece, Webber led SEU 23-21 before the Fire went on a 4-0 run to take set three 25-23 and a two-set-to-one lead.

With their backs against the wall, the Warriors would not go down without a fight as they used an early six-point run to take a 13-6 lead in the fourth set. In that one, Webber would not relinquish the advantage as it went on to win the fourth set 25-17, forcing the deciding frame.

Bowen finished the first two sets with 17 of her 27 kills while over the final two sets, Salanoa-Sagapolu recorded 15 of her 29 kills.

Head Coach Lindsey Martin had this to say after the match, "Southeastern played a phenomenal match tonight. Their energy and desire to win couldn't be matched. We have a big weekend ahead of us, and we need to refocus our energy on ourselves and what we need to do, both mentally and physically to be a better team."

After not losing for more than a month, Webber fell to 18-4 overall and 11-1 in The Sun Conference as the loss also marked the end of 16 straight wins against TSC opponents, the end of six straight road wins, and was the end of six straight wins against Southeastern (18-3, 10-2).

The Warriors now hold a one-match lead in The Sun Conference standings over the Fire with four TSC matches remaining on both team's schedules.

Southeastern, the 2018 conference preseason favorite, avoided its first two-match losing streak of the season and is now 4-0 in matches after a defeat in 2018. The Fire have now won their last nine matches following a loss dating back to the 2017 campaign. Lastly, the win for the Fire was only the eighth out of 41 all-time meetings between Webber and Southeastern, and was only the fourth out of 15 meetings between the teams inside the Furnace.

Next up for Webber will be nonconference action against Florida National University in Hialeah, Florida, at 7 p.m. on Friday, October 19.