MOUNT VERNON, Ga. (February 9, 2019) – The Webber International University men's volleyball team is off to a great start in the Mid-South Conference as the Warriors defeated Bluefield College 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-16) to improve to 2-0 in the MSC.

Webber (2-3 overall) was led statistically by freshman Luke Taffer with 16 kills, a .500 attack percentage, three service aces and three blocks on his birthday. Next was sophomore Liam Gilchrist with 12 kills and fellow sophomores Zachary Ayala and Justin Beecher each with nine kills.

Kyle Robertson dished out 20 assists and was followed by Tim Rouch Jr. with 17, and defensively Steven Bartlett recorded 20 digs and was followed by Christian Alvarez-Rivero with eight.

After blowing a 22-21 lead in the first set, Webber took a big 21-13 lead in the second set before Bluefield (4-8, 1-2) responded with a 9-1 run to tie it at 22-22 and threaten to put the Warriors behind two sets to zero. Fortunately, the Warriors won the set after a service error and an attack error by Bluefield before Ayala put it away with a kill off the pass from Robertson.

Webber then won the third set with a solid attack percentage of .355 percent; and in the final set, the Warriors trailed 15-14 but closed out the match on a huge 11-1 run.

First-year Head Men's Volleyball Coach Eric Prateroius spoke afterwards saying, "We learned how to play as a team in the second match. The 6-2 offense led to us having a lot of good hitting options. We also started serving much better as a team. Our errors were less and we had more aces per set than the last weekend that we played. Justin Beecher really came alive on the outside and was getting a kill nearly every time we needed one. Steven Bartlett's serve receive was just excellent as well."

Next up for Webber will be a return trip to the "Peach State" as Webber travels for a nonconference matchup against NCAA Division-II Emmanuel College at 7 p.m. on Friday, February 15, in Franklin Springs, Georgia. Then, the Warriors will have 11 straight MSC matches to close out their second regular season as a member of the NAIA, starting with a conference meeting with new men's volleyball program Life University at 1 p.m. on Saturday, February 16, in Marietta, Georgia.

In addition to the nice birthday performance by Luke Taffer on Saturday, Coach Prateroius and the rest of the Warriors would like to extended a special belated happy birthday to Trevor Johns (Feb. 6) as well.