CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. (April 6, 2018) – The first ever season of official NAIA competition for the Webber International University men's volleyball team came to an end in the first and only Southeast Athletic Conference Tournament on Friday afternoon. The fifth-seeded Warriors fell to fourth-seeded Campbellsville University 3-0 (25-20, 30-28, 25-19) inside the Powell Athletic Center on CU's campus in Campbellsville, Kentucky.

At the conference's awards banquet, outside hitter Liam Gilchrist was named First-Team All-Conference and middle blocker Jack Chernak was named to the Second-Team.



After falling in the first set, Webber looked to take set two with a 21-18 lead and then had set-point at 24-23 after a kill by Justin Beecher, but ultimately the Warriors could not put the Tigers away. Webber proceeded to battle back from a point down four times in set number two, but could not get over the hump.

Set one and set three were very similar as Webber fell behind with six-point deficits early on in both sets and could not recover.



Statistical leaders for the Warriors in the kill category were Gilchrist with nine, Chernak and Beecher with five, and Cesar Remedios and Zachary Ayala with four. Leading the way in digs was Gilchrist with nine, Trevor Johns with five and Christian Alvarez-Rivero with four. Kyle Robertson had 12 assists and Beecher followed right behind with 11, and Chernak lead the way with five blocks.

Webber finished its season 6-14 overall, 5-7 during the conference portion of the season with sweeps over Brewton-Parker College and Bluefield College, and split its final four matches of the regular season, In all, Friday was the Warriors' third loss of the year to Campbellsville after dropping two 3-1 decisions to the Tigers earlier on.



In a season wrap up of Webber's first year in NAIA competition, the Warriors ranked sixth as a team in the nation in blocks per match with 2.28, and a big part of that came from Chernak, who also ranked sixth nationally as an individual with 1.06 blocks per match and was 21st in total blocks with 70. The regular-season statistical leaders for the Warriors were Gilchrist with 179 kills, Robertson with 283 assists and Chernak with 70 blocks.

Chris Ludwig finished the season ranked 30th in the NAIA in service aces per match (.31), Robertson was 32nd in assists per match (6.15), Remedios was 37th in blocks per match (.76), Beecher was 48th in assists per match (2.85), Gilchrist was 48th in kills per match (2.59) and Tim Rouch Jr. was 50th in assists per match (2.31).



After dropping its first-round and quarterfinal matchup on Friday, the Warriors will now set their sights on the 2019 season as Webber joins schools nine other schools in the Mid-South Conference. The MSC will combine schools from the Appalachian Athletic Conference, Mid-South Conference, River States Conference and Sun Conference to become the sixth conference or affiliated group in the NAIA to offer men's volleyball as a sport.