Babson Park, FL – The Webber International Men's Volleyball team hosted the Reinhardt Eagles in the Sabbagh Center Friday night. On a night when Webber controlled most of the match, the Warriors took down the Eagles in four sets 3-1.
Carson Barnes notched the first kill for the Warriors. Gunter Perea had the next one, with Ayden Keeter assisting both. Kevin McCarthy hit his first service ace of the night to make the score 3-2 Webber. Reinhardt would go on a three-point run to bring the score to 5-4. Multiple blocks from the Warriors and a kill from Thoralf Schmelzer gave Webber the lead again. A service error from the Eagles and an ace from Gunter Perea Quevedo had the Warriors up by three 9-6. After an error from Perea Quevedo, Webber went on a 5-1 run with two kills from McCarthy to go up 14-8. Webber and Reinhardt would trade points until another three-point run for the Warriors resulted in two kills for Schmelzer and a combo block from Schmelzer and Daniel Beacham gave Webber a 20-13 lead. Webber would end the set on a 5-2 swing, featuring four points that ended in blocks. A kill from Schmelzer was the final point in set one, as Webber took it handily 25-15.
Webber quickly got out to a 9-2 lead, with Schmelzer serving back-to-back aces, and Trent Massey getting in on the ace party as well. Webber stayed ahead of Reinhardt for the entire set, as kills from McCarthy, Schmelzer, and Ayden Keeter had Webber up 13-7. Beacham, McCarthy, and Schmelzer all racked up more kills to help the Warriors to a 19-11 lead. Reinhardt would try to come back in the second set, with a five-point swing of their own, but Webber scored six of the last seven points with an ace from Barnes capping the second set with another Warrior win 25-17.
The third set was a tightly contested affair as neither team was able to get out to more than a four-point lead. Kills from Schmelzer, Beacham, and McCarthy kept Webber within one point, 8-7. A red card on the Eagles helped stop a 4-1 run from Reinhardt, as McCarthy and Schmelzer picked up kills to make the score 13-11 Reinhardt. Multiple errors from the Eagles kept Webber within two. Webber was able to capitalize on Eagle errors, and a kill from Kornel Szabo put Webber within one, 22-21. Webber tied it on an ace from McCarthy, and both teams scored two to make it 24-24. Reinhardt would win the third set on two straight points, 26-24.
Webber scored first in the fourth quarter on another error by the Eagles. Andrew Nielsen scored next on a kill. Nielsen served five of the next six points for the Warriors, as they took an 8-2 lead on kills from Perea Quevedo and McCarthy, as well as a block by Perea Quevedo. The Warriors and Eagles kept pace with each other, as most kills would be negated by the other. Kills from Perea Quevedo, Schmelzer, Nielsen and McCarthy had Webber up 14-10. Reinhardt outscored Webber 8-4 over the next 12 points, tying the game at 18 apiece. Errors from the Eagles gave Webber the lead again and they held on to the end. Perea Quevedo, Nielsen, and Schmelzer tallied the last five kills for the Warriors as they won the fourth set 25-21 and the match 3-1.
Schmelzer led the team with 16 kills, tallying three service aces and five blocks as well. McCarthy had 10 kills for the Warriors, while Perea Quevedo had eight. Keeter led the team with 37 assists and Massey led the team with 15 digs.
The Warriors will be back in action on Saturday, February 17th when they host the Life Running Eagles in the Sabbagh Center at 11 AM.
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