BABSON PARK, Fla. (August 15, 2019) – The 2018 Sun Conference Regular-Season Co-Champion Webber International University women's volleyball team is ready for another exciting season chasing a conference championship crown.

The Warriors' 2019 campaign will begin tomorrow on Friday, August 16, at 12 p.m. against No. 10 Eastern Oregon University, a team that in 2018 advanced to the top 16 of the NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championship and ended the year ranked 11th in all of the NAIA. The match between Webber and EOU will be played on Webber's home court inside the Sabbagh Athletic Center.

The Warriors will enter 2019 under with a new head coach, Gretchen Hand, but will look to continue their impressive run that has seen Webber win at least The Sun Conference regular-season or tournament championship during each of the last three seasons.



In the 2019 Sun Conference Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll released on Friday, August 9, the Warriors were voted to finish third out of nine teams. Webber received 48 total voting points in the poll, three behind second-place and fellow defending TSC regular-season Co-Champion Southeastern University and 13 behind the College of Coastal Georgia, the defending TSC Tournament Champion, in first place. The Warriors were also one of three teams in the poll to receive at least one first-place vote.

Last season in 2018, Webber finished 23-6 overall and for the second year in a row, went 14-2 in The Sun Conference. It was the Warriors' third straight season winning at least 23 matches with 14 conference victories during each of those years. Webber was also only one win shy of its third straight TSC Tournament title, falling 3-1 to Coastal Georgia in the championship match.

In 2019, the Warriors will return their 2018 TSC Libero of the Year in Nayrelis Pantoja Santos, who was also a first-team all-conference pick along with outside hitter Emily Bowen. Last year, Pantoja Santos finished the season ranked seventh in all of the NAIA and was first in The Sun Conference in digs per game (6.0). Pantoja Santos is one of nine seniors on the Warriors' roster in 2019 while Bowen joins three other key returners, Svenja Koenig, Salla Rautiainen and Laura Embry, in the Warriors' junior class. Another returner Coach Hand is particularly proud of due to the work she put in over the summer is senior Kalameli Matautia.

Key newcomers to the Warriors' roster in 2019 that Coach Hand expects to make an immediate impact include transfers Brianda Valdez, Delaney Keown and Kelsey McKinley. Valdez is a junior college transfer from Mt. San Antonio College (Walnut, Calif.) where she earned two all-conference awards and led her team in assists. Keown is a junior college transfer from Broward College in Florida while McKinley is a transfer from Piedmont International University (Winston-Salem, N.C.) who is looking to be a leader on the Warriors' front line. Another potential new impact player for the Warriors in 2019 is middle blocker Swey Brown, who comes to Webber as a freshman from Eustis High School.

To follow the action during the Warriors' season opener on Friday and all season long, please visit Webber's Stretch Internet and Live Events pages above for all of the video and live stats details.