MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (October 11, 2022) - The Webber International University women's volleyball team traveled to Florida Memorial University for a matchup against the Lions on Monday night. In what was a very competitive and back-and-forth match, the Lions defended their home court 3-2 (26-24, 27-29, 25-20, 25-27, 15-12).

In a Monday night matchup that was rescheduled due to Hurricane Ian, The Warriors (12-8 overall, 2-3 SUN) and Lions (7-5, 3-4) battled it out in a grueling five-set match. The two teams were neck and neck in almost every statistical category although FMU held the advantage in total number of kills while Webber had more total blocks.

The Warriors looked strong to win the first set, leading 23-21 late in the set. However, three-straight points by the Lions saw them take the advantage at 24-23. A kill from Cintia Lorena would level the set at 24, but FMU then scored back-to-back to earn the victory and the 1-0 lead. The Lions held set-point at 24-21 and were looking like they were going to extend their lead to 2-0. A kill from Nadia Reid followed by a three-straight attack errors helped turn the tide and the Warriors became the team holding set-point at 25-24. The advantage would change two more times in the set before, tied at 27, a kill from Teodora Ranitovic followed by a kill from Savannah Wilhite would pull the Warriors level at 1-1 in the match.

Florida Memorial went on three runs over the course of the third set and found themselves firmly in the lead 23-16. Webber attempted to battle back, scoring four-straight to get within three, but it was too little too late as the Lions closed out the set three victory. Two good runs from the Warriors in the fourth set helped them jump out to a six point lead at 16-10. The Lions began to slowly creep back into the set, chipping away at the lead and pulling within one at 21-20. A 4-1 run from FMU gave the Lions a 24-22 advantage but Webber did not go down easily. Down 25-24, the Warriors scored three-straight including kills from Amanda Vega and Alexis Turner to take the set and force set number five.

The final set proved to be just as close and competitive as the rest of them as there was four lead changes to start the set. Webber held the lead at 11-10 and 12-11 late in the set, but FMU scored four-straight to end the set 15-12 and take the five-set victory.

The Warriors were led by Lorena with a team-high 12 kills followed by Ranitovic with 10, Reid with nine and Bailey Sikkema with seven. Vega and Payse Crow continue to trade off setting duties and tallied 24 and 20 assists respectively. Defensively, Bailey Berger led the team with 20 digs while Ranitovic racked up a career-high 15 total blocks to earn the first double-double of her career. Vega earned a double-double as well, tallying 11 digs, for her fifth double-double of the year.

Next up, Webber has the second match of a four-game road stretch as they travel to Ave Maria University on Saturday, October 15th to face the Gyrenes for the second time this season at 2 p.m. The Warriors lost the first matchup at home 3-1 and will look to even the score this weekend.