MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (October 20, 2018) – The Webber International University women's volleyball team defeated Florida National University 3-1 (35-33, 22-25, 25-12, 25-17) on Friday, October 19, in Hialeah, Florida, in nonconference action and then came back the next day to beat Sun Conference opponent Florida Memorial University 3-1 (25-17, 24-26, 25-23, 25-22) on Saturday, October 20, in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Webber is now 20-4 overall on the season and is 12-1 in Sun Conference action. The Warriors have now reached the 20-win plateau in three consecutive seasons.

Against FNU, Virginia Salanoa-Sagapolu led the way for the Warriors with 24 kills and a .324 attack percentage, and she was followed by Emily Bowen with 16 kills.  Salanoa-Sagapolu's performance against FNU gave her 53 kills over her last two matches.

Nayrelis Pantoja Santos reached 37 digs against FNU. In all against FNU, Webber had five players with 10 or more digs and saw three players record a double-double. Hannah Tannone finished with 17 digs, Bowen added 10 digs to go along with her kills for a double-double, Salla Rautiainen recorded a double-double with 24 assists and 15 digs, and Gilmary Ramos had 23 assists and 16 digs for a double-double as well.

In Webber's epic first set against FNU, the Warriors faced set-point seven times before finally winning the final three points on an FNU service error, a kill by Kalameli Matautia and an assisted block by Bowen and Svenja Koenig.

Webber took its momentum from the FNU match into its Sun Conference tilt with FMU, winning the first set with a 10-1 run to take a 21-9 lead.

The Warriors would slip up in the second set, giving away a 22-18 lead with an 8-2 run by FMU to steal the set.

The third set was almost déjà vu for Webber as it again let a late set lead slip away. With a 21-17 lead for the Warriors, the Lions went on a five-point run to take a 22-21 lead that would be squandered by a Webber kill from Bowen before three FMU attack errors eventually ended the set in the Warriors' favor.

After trading multiple runs in the fourth set, Webber prevailed to take the set and the match thanks to an FMU service error and an attack error on the Warriors' final two points of the day. Before that, back-to-back kills by Bowen and Matautia made it 23-20 Warriors.

Stat leaders for the Warriors against FMU were Bowen with 15 kills and Julia Ferraro with five service aces and as many blocks.

Rautiainen had 21 assists, eight kills and three blocks for an extremely well-rounded performance.

Pantoja Santos finished with 28 digs and has now reached 28-plus digs in three straight matches. 

Head Coach Lindsey Martin said, "It's that point in the season where fall fatigue, overuse injuries and various illnesses plague every team across the country. We are working through it just like everyone else. Our focus right now in practice is to be competitive in every position and with every lineup. Fight though what we can fight through, rest when we need to rest. This weekend we played as good as we needed to in order to beat our opponents."

Next up for Webber will be a home match against Sun Conference opponent Keiser University on Wednesday, October 24, at 7 p.m. Webber's Senior Day will then be held at 5 p.m. against St. Thomas University on Saturday, October 27, inside the Sabbagh Athletic Center.