LAKE WALES, Fla. (October 23, 2019) – The Webber International University women's volleyball team had a chance in all three sets, but in the end the Warriors fell to the Royals of Warner University by a score of 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-22) on Wednesday night inside the Turner Athletic Center in Lake Wales, Florida.

In the opening set, Webber trailed 22-21 after a kill by Samantha Davila, but then a service error followed by a Warner service ace made it 24-21 to give the Royals set point.

Webber got back to within one point of Warner again at 24-23 after a Royals' attack error and a kill by Kalameli Matautia, but unfortunately the Warriors were not able to complete the comeback effort as a kill by Warner's Adeline Anthony ended it.

In the second set, Webber trailed by seven at 20-13 but again, tried to comeback as the Warriors battled back to within two points of Warner at 22-20 with a 7-2 run.

Unfortunately, a kill by the Royals' Alexandrea Gonzalez on three of the next four points thwarted the comeback effort and gave Warner the 2-0 set advantage.

In the final set, Webber again erased a late deficit as the Warriors trailed 23-18 but nearly battled all the way back, getting to within one at 23-22 after a kill by Madelyn Glouner followed by three straight attack errors by Gonzalez of the Royals.

Sadly, the Warriors' comeback effort fell just short for the third set in a row as Gonzalez righted the ship with back-to-back kills for the home team to end it, giving her a match-high 13 kills on the night.

Brianda Valdez led Webber with her fifth double-double of the season as she finished with 14 assists and 11 digs. Behind Valdez in assists was Laura Embry with nine.

Valdez was one of three Warriors with double-digit digs as McKinzie Maloney matched Valdez with 11 digs while Matautia added 10 digs and was only one kill short of her third double-double of the season with nine kills.

Glouner led the Warriors in the kills category with 10, which was her career-high, and added eight digs and an impressive five blocks.

Three other Warriors, Matautia, Salla Rautiainen and Svenja Koenig, both added two blocks as Webber out-blocked Warner 7-2.

The Warriors also led Warner in kills (32-28), assists (30-26), digs (55-52) and in points (44.0-37.0), but in the end Webber could just not put it all together in one set to come out on top.

With the loss, Webber dropped to 7-14 overall in 2019 and also fell to 3-9 in The Sun Conference as the Warriors' chances to make the postseason are dwindling. Warner, meanwhile, improved to 5-12 overall and 3-8 in the conference with the win.

After Webber's Homecoming Weekend Alumni Match at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, October 25, the Warriors will take to their home court inside the Sabbagh Athletic Center the following day, Saturday, October 26, for the Webber Tri-Match with Florida Memorial University and nationally-recognized Trinity Christian College (Ill.). The Warriors will battle FMU at 2 p.m. in a Sun Conference matchup before taking on TCC at 6 p.m. in nonconference action to finish off the day.