BABSON PARK, Fla. (November 9, 2019) – The Webber International University women's volleyball team played its final match of the 2019 season, falling to Ave Maria University 3-0 (25-19, 25-10, 25-23) on Saturday inside the Sabbagh Athletic Center.

Honored before the match were seniors Nayrelis Pantoja Santos, Mekenzie Breuklander, Valerie Vargas, Gilmary Ramos, Kalameli Matautia, RayGene Garner, Courtnie Perry, Svenja Koenig and Rosa Aguado.

Head Coach Gretchen Hand said, "I want to thank our seniors for giving their all and being a part of our volleyball program, and I wish them the best of luck going forward as they enter their professional careers."

Webber got off to a great start with a 7-1 lead in the first set thanks to three early kills by Garner.

However, with the Warriors up 11-8, Ave Maria went on a 5-0 run to go ahead 13-11 and then used another 5-0 run to expand its leads to 20-13.

The Warriors then got back to within four at 21-17 after another kill by Garner and again at 23-19 but could not get any closer.

Webber managed to hold AMU to.194 percent hitting in the first set but was the victim of 12 attack errors in the frame.

Then, after allowing AMU to hit .412 percent in set number two, Webber started off the third and final set with kills from Jessica Terry, Matautia and Koenig to lead 4-1.

The Warriors continued to lead in the third set at 5-2 after a kill by Koenig, 6-3 after an AMU service error, 7-4 after a Gyrenes' attack error, and 8-6 after another AMU service error before the Gyrenes scored seven straight to jump ahead 13-8.

Down 15-11 in the final set, the Warriors tried to stay in the fight with a 5-0 run to go ahead 16-15.

However, after three straight points by the Gyrenes put AMU ahead for the final time at 18-16, the two teams traded each of the next 14 points before AMU won the final point on a kill.

Seniors Matautia and Koenig both finished with a match-high eight kills while Matautia also added a match-high nine digs and and Koenig had five digs.

Another senior, Garner, finished with four kills and six digs.

Among the non-seniors in action were Salla Rautiainen with 14 assists and Terry with six digs.

Despite losing, the Warriors were very close to the Gyrenes in kills (31-29), and in assists (27-25) and actually had more digs than AMU at 37-35.

With the season now over, the Warriors finished their first season under Coach Hand 7-19 overall and 3-13 in The Sun Conference.