BOWLING GREEN, KY. (April 5, 2019) – The first season of official Mid-South Conference competition for the Webber International University men's volleyball team came to an end in the first MSC Men's Volleyball Tournament late on Friday night as the sixth-seeded Warriors fell to third-seeded Campbellsville University 3-1 (25-15, 22-25, 25-12, 25-23) at Bowling Green High School in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It was the second straight season the Warriors were knocked out of the postseason by the Tigers, but it came in heartbreaking fashion as they were only two points away from forcing the all-important fifth set.

Previously, each of the first three quarterfinal matches on the day were finished in only three sets, but the Warriors put an end to that streak with their win in set number two.

After Campbellsville closed the first set on a 10-4 run, Webber opened the second set up 8-5 to force a Tigers' timeout.

The Warriors then widened their lead to five at 12-7, but Campbellsville battled back to tie it at 13-13. From there, neither team led by more than one until the Warriors jumped ahead 20-17 with a 3-0 run as a service ace by Christian Alvarez-Rivero forced another timeout from the opposition.

However, the Tigers refused to quit in the set and came back yet again to tie it, this time at 21-21 to force the Warriors to use their final timeout of the stanza.

A kill by Liam Gilchrist made it 22-21 Warriors, and then an ace by Gilchrist made it 23-21 before a kill by Luke Taffer brought the Warriors to set point. Webber would win the set on a Tigers' attack error.

Then, after a rough third set, Webber fought hard and despite hitting in the negative percentages, kept it close enough to make a push at the end of set number four, coming from behind to tie it at 19-19 and then take the lead on a Tigers' attack error. Next, a sick kick save and subsequent kill by Gilchrist tied it again at 21-21, and then a big assisted block by Orlando Fletcher and Pedro Lepever made it 22-21 Warriors.

Tied 22-22 in the fourth set, Webber went ahead 23-22 on a Tigers' service error; but then the underdog story for the Warriors came to a screeching halt as Campbellsville stepped up with two big kills by Rafael Cruz and a big block by Max Stotridge and Noah Henkel.



Statistical leaders for the Warriors were Gilchrist with nine kills and six digs, Taffer with eight kills and five digs, Fletcher with six skills, Zachary Ayala with five kills, Justin Beecher with 16 assists, Tim Rouch Jr. with 10 assists, Steven Bartlett with 11 digs, Alvarez-Rivero with four blocks, and Lepever with three blocks and three kills.

Webber finished its second season of official NAIA competition with a 7-11 overall record and had wins over NCAA Division-II Emmanuel College, Brewton-Parker College (twice), Cincinnati Christian University, Bluefield College and Midway University, and for the first time in program history, the Warriors defeated their rival from across the lake Warner University in their regular-season finale.

With their season over, the Warriors will now set their sights on 2020 and their second season under Head Coach Eric Praetorius.

"This was a great first season for me," said Praetorius. "It was a tough loss to end it, but it was a really close match and that team moves the ball to their back row attackers really quickly. It was hard to block them. When we dominated the serve line we really had them on the ropes. As soon as we let them take control of the serve line, we had a really hard time with them."