BABSON PARK, Fla. (September 19, 2018) – The Webber International University women's volleyball looked great early on, winning the first two sets against Crooked Lake rival Warner University before seemingly losing all the momentum in sets two and three. The Warriors, however, dug down deep and ran away with the fifth and final set, defeating Warner 3-2 (25-22, 25-23, 17-25, 20-25, 15-5) on Wednesday night inside the Sabbagh Athletic Center.

It was second straight match playing in The Sun Conference Volleyball Game of the Week for Webber (10-3 overall, 4-0 The Sun Conference). After each of the Polk County rivals entered the matchup unbeaten in conference play, it was only the Warriors that moved on as one of only two undefeated teams in The Sun Conference as Warner fell to 6-8 and 2-1.

In the fifth set, Webber notched five straight points on a kill by Emily Bowen, three straight Royal attack errors, and a kill from Salla Rautiainen to jump out to an 8-2 lead.

The Warriors then scored four straight, ending with an ace by Mekenzie Breuklander and a kill by Julia Ferraro to go ahead 12-4.

In all, Webber would close out the final set on a 7-1 run as a kill by Virginia Salanoa-Sagapolu, another ace, this time by Nayrelis Pantoja Santos, and another kill from Salanoa-Sagaplolu ended it.

Head Coach Lindsey Martin said, "I am extremely proud of our tenacity tonight against a good team. We fought hard when it mattered most, and that made all the difference."

Pantoja Santos finished with a new career-high as a Warrior of 35 digs, reaching 20+ digs for the fifth time this season. She has also accumulated double-digit digs in all 12 of her matches this season, her first with Webber, and the career-high in digs was one of three such occurrences for the Warriors on Wednesday.

Joining Pantoja Santos in the digs column with impressive performances was Gilmary Ramos with 22 and Hannah Tannone and Valerie Vargas each with 13. It was a career-high in the category for both Ramos and Vargas.

In addition to their high dig totals, Vargas and Ramos both recorded double-doubles on the evening as Vargas dished out 21 assists and Ramos had 20.

The leaders for Webber in kills included Salanoa-Sagapolu with 15 kills and Kalameli Matautia with a career-high of 13 kills and a solid .324 attack percentage.

The Warriors have now won five straight and six of their last seven matches this season, and have won five straight at home dating back to 2017. Additionally, Webber has now won its last nine contests against TSC opponents. 

In the all-time series between Webber and Warner, which dates back to 2008, the Warriors now hold a 17-8 advantage. Including Wednesday's thriller, the two teams have now played to a nail-biting five sets eight times in the history of the rivalry.

Next up, Webber continues its four-match home stand by hosting Florida National University at 7 p.m. on Friday, September 21 in nonconference action. The Warriors will then return to the TSC slate on Wednesday, September 26, at 7 p.m., welcoming Southeastern University to the Sabbagh Athletic Center for what could be another battle of unbeaten TSC squads.