LAKELAND, Fla. (September 11, 2019) – In what was a matchup between both of the defending Sun Conference Regular-Season Champions from a year ago, the Webber International University women's volleyball team opened up Sun Conference play for the 2019 season at Southeastern University on Wednesday, and in the end the Warriors were swept 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-22) inside The Furnance in Lakeland, Florida.

It was the first match for Webber (3-4 overall, 0-1 TSC) in 12 days thanks to Hurricane Dorian threatening the Florida area, but it was also the first action for Southeastern (7-2, 1-0) in 11 days.

After the Warriors led 11-10 in the first set on a kill by Svenja Koenig, the Fire recorded the next four points and went on a 9-2 run in all to go ahead by six at 19-13.

Then, after a rough second set in which Webber trailed 15-9 and 19-11, the Warriors kept it close in the third set and used a 4-0 spurt starting with a kill by Salla Rautiainen and ending with back-to-back kills by Samantha Davila to tie the frame at 20-20.

However, after two more points by the Fire, another kill by Davila made it 22-21 Southeastern before a Warrior service error and a Southeastern service ace made it 24-21. Yet another kill by Davila, who accounted for all four of Webber's last four points of the match and had five of the Warriors' last seven points overall, made it 24-22.

Leading Webber statistically was Kalameli Matautia with 11 kills, Koenig with eight kills and Madelyn Glouner with 12 digs.

Salla Rautiainen finished with eight assists, eight digs and six kills, and Laura Embry had 18 assists and nine digs.

In addition to her five kills, Davila also hit .300 for the match while Koenig hit .294 percent.

After tying for the regular-season crown in 2018 with identical 14-2 league marks, Webber earned the top seed in The Sun Conference tournament via a tiebreaker. Webber and SEU split their regular-season meetings a year ago, with the Warriors sweeping at home on September 26 and the Fire winning a five-set battle in Lakeland on October 17.

Webber will continue TSC play in three more days as the Warriors travel to Johnson & Wales University for a 2 p.m. matchup on Saturday, September 14. Webber will then play its first conference match at home on Wednesday, September 18, a night match with rival Warner University at 7 p.m.