TAVARES, Fla. (April 20, 2019) – The No. 3-seeded Webber International University women's beach volleyball team won the first two of its pool play matches at the American Volleyball Coaches' Association Small College Beach National Championship on Friday, April 19, defeating No. 7-seeded Ottawa University (Kan.) 4-1 and No. 6-seeded Warner University 3-2 before falling to No. 2-seeded Vanguard University (Calif.) 5-0 in the final match on Friday. Then, on Saturday, April 20, the Warriors' quest for a third straight Small College National Championship officially came to an end as Webber fell 4-1 to No. 1-seeded Ottawa University Arizona before dropping the third-place match by a score of 3-2 against No. 4-seeded Missouri Baptist University.

During pool play on Friday, Webber, the second-seeded team in Pool B, got off to a great start with a 4-1 win over Ottawa (Kan.), the bottom ranked team in Pool B. Hannah Tannone and Salla Rautiainen won in three sets, 17-21, 21-10, 15-10, in the No. 1 spot, Mekenzie Breuklander and Madelyn Glouner won 21-13, 21-14 in the No. 2 spot, Jessica Terry and Kobi Allston won 21-15, 21-12 in the No. 3 position, and Julia Ferraro and Luiza Oliveira won 21-12, 21-18 in the No. 4 spot.  Maricarmen Jaimes and Molly Fusarelli fell in three sets, 21-12, 17-21, 15-9 in the five hole.



Against Warner, the Warriors squeaked out the one-point victory 3-2 as Tannone and Rautiainen won a close match in the No. 1 spot 29-27, 21-17, Terry and Allston won in three sets in the No. 3 spot 21-18, 17-21, 15-11, and Ferraro and Oliveira rolled to victory 21-9, 21-11 in the No. 4 position. All three of those pairs moved to 2-0 on the day, but Breuklander and Glouner fell 21-19, 23-21 in the No. 2 spot while Jaimes and Fusarelli fell in three sets for the second time on the day, dropping it 17-21, 21-16, 17-15.

In the final match of the first day of the tournament, Webber took on the top seed in Pool B, Vanguard. The Warriors came up short in all five matches but forced two three-set matches in the top two spots and fell by only two points in the second set of the No. 4 and No. 5 matches. Tannone and Rautiainen fell 21-19, 16-21, 15-12 in a close three-setter in the No. 1 spot, Breuklander and Glouner fell 18-21, 21-18, 18-16 in another three-setter in the No. 2 spot, Terry and Allston lost 21-13, 21-12, in the No. 3 position, Ferraro and Oliveira fell 21-14, 21-19 in the No. 4 spot, and Jaimes and Fusarelli lost 21-16, 22-20 in the five hole.



From there, Webber entered day two on Saturday in the winners' bracket, but needed a big upset over the winner of Pool A, Ottawa University Arizona, the No. 1 overall seed which swept its way into the semifinals. Unfortunately, the Warriors came up short 4-1 in that attempt, and then Webber fell by only one match against Missouri Baptist University in the third-place match.

Webber finished its first season under new head coach Jessica Gehrke-Hauptmann with an overall record of 17-12.