Babson Park, FL – The Webber International men's volleyball team played in their second game of a back-to-back road trip series against the Bluefield University Rams on Saturday afternoon. The Rams would prove to be the Warriors toughest challenge to date, but the Warriors answered the call and took home set five to win the match 3-2.
 
The Warriors started off well in set one jumping out to a quick 3-0 lead, but the Rams would go on a 5-0 run to flip the lead to their favor. The story of set one would be of runs and who would be able to manage the last run to win the set. Following the Rams run, the Warriors put together a 3-0 run with kills from Kevin McCarthy and Carson Barnes. The Rams put together a 3-0 run in the middle portion of set one, followed by a 4-0 run when the score was knotted up at 20-20 that gave them the final advantage. The Warriors would fight back with two late points but fall just short in set one 25-22.
 
Set two and three were a completely different story for the Warriors with Thoralf Schmelzer and Barnes leading the charge. Schmelzer would record 18 kills for himself on the day and Barnes just behind him with 17 and both hitters earning themselves a serving ace as well. Set two was decided in the middle of the set with the score at 8-6 after a Barnes kill, the Warriors would go on a 10-4 run with Joshua Corr, Daniel Beacham, and Andrew Nielson striking down with kills to help the Warriors build a 18-10 lead and forcing a Rams timeout. The Warriors continued their hot streak and rolled to an easy set two victory 25-14. Set three told a similar story as Barnes got the Warriors rolling with two early kills, set up by the assist man himself Ayden Keeter. Keeter would tally 44 assists on the day for the Warriors, setting up six Warriors hitters for kills. The Warriors led set three wire to wire and cruised to an easy set three win 25-11.
 
The Warriors had the chance to take the match in set four and got off to a great start leading 4-0 behind three kills from Barnes. The Rams would answer back tying it back up at 5-5 after some Warrior errors. The set would be back and forth the entire way down the stretch until the Rams went on an 8-4 run to push their lead to 22-16. The Warriors rebounded well bringing it all the way back to 24-23 with three straight Schmelzer kills, but the Rams lead was too much for the Warriors and the Rams won set four 25-23 to force and fifth and final set.
 
The fifth and final set of the day would come down to the wire. The Warriors took the early lead 5-2 with kills from Beacham and McCarthy to force a Rams timeout. Out of the timeout the Rams ran off a 7-4 streak to even the score at 9-9. McCarthy would be the Warriors hero down the stretch of set five, recording three of his six kills on the day to help the Warriors defeat the Rams 16-14 in set five and win the match 3-2.
 
The Warriors will have a few weeks to rest before they hit the road again for their second matchup against Truett McConnell on Friday March 15^th at 3 PM in Cleveland, GA.
 
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