LAKE WALES, Fla. (February 21, 2018) – The Webber International University men's volleyball team lost to their rival Warner University in three sets (25-9, 25-18, 25-22) on Wednesday night inside the Turner Athletic Center.

The Warriors showed improvement and played more comfortably throughout each set as the young team was faced with a big challenge in playing their first away match of the season and first match against a team appearing in the NAIA National Coaches' Poll. Warner, which is currently receiving votes in the national poll, was ranked No. 10 in the previous edition of the poll and was ranked No. 7 in the country in the preseason poll.

The Warriors' offense was led by Zachary Ayala with eight kills and a .375 attack percentage, and both Chris Ludwig and Liam Gilchrist with six kills. Gilchrist also had two aces.

Kyle Robertson provided 20 assists with Tim Rouch Jr. also adding four assists.

Team leaders on the defensive end were Christian Alvarez-Rivero with five digs and Trevor Johns with four.

Despite the tough loss, the Warriors showed fight, not backing down from the Royals in the third set.

Webber fell to 2-2 on the season while Warner improved to 7-2.

The Webber men's volleyball team will head to No. 10 Lourdes University, located in Sylvania, Ohio, for a tournament where they will also face the University of California Merced, No. 9 Clarke University, and No. 8 Cardinal Stritch University. The Warriors start action at 10 a.m. on Friday, February, 23, with two matches and will also play two matches on Saturday, February 24 with the final match of the Gray Wolf Invitational starting at 8 p.m.