BABSON PARK, Fla. (February 3, 2018) – The Webber International University men's volleyball team lost its final match of the Warner-Webber Spring Invitational, dropping a heartbreaking 3-2 (22-25, 25-20, 28-30, 27-25, 15-9) decision to Cincinnati Christian University on Saturday night inside the Sabbagh Athletic Center.

Despite the loss, Webber (2-1 overall, 2-1 Southeast Athletic Conference) showed toughness, grit and fight as it fell for not only the first time this season, but for the first time as an official NAIA program.

In a dramatic third set, the Warriors trailed early at scores of 4-0 and 8-5 before scoring four straight to go up 9-8. Neither team led by more than two for the rest of the set as both teams faced set-point three times before Webber finally won it with three straight points on a kill by Chris Ludwig, an ace by Christian Alvarez-Rivero and an Eagles' attack error.

In the important fourth set, Webber trailed 19-15 before coming back to lead 22-21 after a 7-2 run. CCU then scored three straight points, but the Warriors answered with three consecutive scores of their own to set themselves up with match-point at 25-24.

However, Webber could not take advantage of the opportunity as three straight kills by the Eagles ended the set, and then CCU jumped out to leads of 6-1, 8-2 and 11-5 to take control of the final set as the Warriors seemingly ran out of gas.

After the match, Head Coach William McPhee shared his thoughts, "It's tough to say the term 'good loss' as a head coach, but that's what tonight was. We learned a lot about ourselves tonight. We have some strong spots and some weak spots and we will continue to work with the men to accentuate the good and minimize the bad. Hats off to Adam and Cincinnati Christian University. We will get back to work on Monday and start preparing for our next match. Go warriors."

Liam Gilchrist recorded an impressive 25 kills, and was followed by Ludwig with 16 and Zachary Ayala with 11. For the second day in a row, setter Kyle Robertson was also great as he finished with 41 assists, followed by Tim Rouch Jr. who was also strong with 22 assists.

Gilchrist finished with a hitting percentage of .463 percent on 41 attempts while Justin Beecher hit .538 percent on 13 attempts, finishing with eight kills.

Alvarez-Rivero led the Webber defense with 13 digs, followed by Ludwig and Gilchrist both with eight, while Jack Chernak added four blocks.

The Webber men's volleyball team will face another great test for the new program as the Warriors face the No. 7 team in the country, Warner University, at 7 p.m. in Lake Wales, Florida, on Wednesday, February 21.