BABSON PARK, Fla. (October 27, 2018) – The Webber International University women's volleyball team played its final regular-season home match of the 2018 season, defeating St. Thomas University 3-0 (25-22, 25-11, 25-23) on Saturday inside the Sabbagh Athletic Center.
Leading the way in kills for the Warriors on Senior Day was the lone senior herself,
Virginia Salanoa-Sagapolu, with 11.
Virginia Salanoa-Sagapolu is an outside hitter from Honolulu, Hawaii, who has spent the last two years playing for the Warriors. A team captain both seasons, she entered the match with 201 career sets played, 697 career kills, 146 digs, 58 career blocks and 15 service aces under her belt. Salanoa-Sagapolu is averaging 3.47 kills per set for her career.
Head Coach
Lindsey Martin, in her second season with the Warriors, had this to say, "Tonight we played for Virginia. The whole team gave everything they had for her, and that's what it's about. This sport, this program, these girls, we are about the team, and tonight the team won for the right reason,
Virginia Salanoa-Sagapolu."
In addition to Salanoa-Sagapolu,
Emily Bowen stuffed the stat sheet with 10 kills, a .304 attack percentage, seven digs, four service aces and two blocks.
Other key contributors were
Salla Rautiainen with seven kills, a .312 attack percentage and three blocks;
Svenja Koenig with five kills, a .500 attack percentage and a new career-high of eight blocks; and
Nayrelis Pantoja Santos with 18 digs.
Gilmary Ramos nearly finished with her fifth double-double of the season, adding 20 assists and nine digs.
Koenig's eight blocks makes it the second contest in a row that a Warrior has recorded at least eight blocks as
Julia Ferraro did so earlier in the week against Keiser University on Wednesday, October 24.
The Warriors would take the first set after being tied at 21 apiece thanks to three attacking errors and one service error from the Bobcats.
In the second set, Webber took over with a dominating performance, hitting .400 percent compared to STU hitting .000 percent for the second set in a row.
The third set was much more interesting. After the Warriors used an eight-point run to take a 19-12 lead, the Bobcats rallied back to trail by only one at 22-21.
Kills by Salanoa-Sagapolu and Bowen, and an assisted block by
Kalameli Matautia and Koenig would seal the set and the match for the Warriors.
Webber improved to a very impressive 22-4 overall with a 14-1 mark in The Sun Conference as the Warriors have now reached 14 conference wins for the third season in a row. St. Thomas fell to 10-13 and is fifth in The Sun Conference at 8-6.
Webber's final regular-season match of 2018 before the conference tournament will come on the road at the College of Coastal Georgia at 7 p.m. on Halloween Night, Wednesday, October 31. The annual TSC Women's Volleyball tournament is currently scheduled for November 6 for the quarterfinals and November 9-10 for the semifinals and championship round.
