Babson Park, FL – The Webber International men's volleyball team opened up their 2024 campaign on Thursday evening against their Appalachian Athletic Conference foes, the Truett McConnell University Bears. The Warriors dismantled the Bears defense, behind 29 kills and 19 aces, and the Warriors took their season opener in three straight sets to send the Bears home packing.
 
The Warriors started their opening off set strong with a 3-0 run behind, a kill a piece from Daniel Beacham and Gunter Perea, and a service ace by Trent Massey. Ayden Keeter was the libero for the Warriors in the first set, and he delivered with excellent timed passes and set his teammates up for success early earning four assists on the Warriors first nine points. The Warriors built their lead early with a five-point advantage, but after a run from the Bears, it was Kevin McCarthy who set the Warriors back straight towards the finish line, setting off a seven nothing run to give the Warriors a commanding lead 18-9. McCarthy would get a kill, set up by Keeter, and then go to serve for the Warriors in their terrific run in the first set. Carson Barnes would follow his teammates lead and command the Warriors to a dominating set one victory, 25-11, collecting three aces and a kill to push the Warriors to the finish line in the final points.
 
The Bears would bring an early challenge in set two for the Warriors, claiming the first two points of the set. Although, the Bears would fall quiet after the early start and the Warriors would hit their stride and win the next 12 points of the set. Thoralf Schmelzer would be the reason for the Warriors run, taking all 12 Warrior serves during the rally, tallying six aces and two kills to ignite the Warriors. Following another short run from the Bears, Schmelzer would strike for another kill to push the Warrior lead back up to 13-4. McCarthy also had his serving fingerprints over this set, leading the charge for the Warriors 5-0 swing, tallying three more aces to his day. The Warriors would take their 17-5 lead into a Bears timeout and find no difficulty in putting away their opponent for a second set victory. Cesar Remedios would get on the board with his first kill of the day, along with Schmelzer totaling another three kills to wrap up the second set for the Warriors 25-12.
 
The Warriors would look to put this game to rest early, relinquishing the ability to send their conference opponent to bed in three sets. The Bears would work out another early lead, taking a 3-1 advantage. The Warriors would bounce straight back and rack up a 4-0 run behind more kills from McCarthy and Schmelzer. Kornel Szabo would get his opportunity to serve in the middle part of the third set and topped off a 3-0 rally for the Warriors with an ace of his own to boost the Warriors lead up to 10-5. After some back-and-forth play, Schmelzer would strike for two more kills behind great sets from Trent Massey, who had eight assists in set three alone. To the Bears credit, they would battle hard down the stretch and make life difficult for the Warriors to close out their season opener at home. The Warriors would lead 22-17 after a service error from the Bears, and they would use a timeout to try and push for one more last run, but their attempt would be in vain as Schmelzer would put away the Bears with another ace to wrap up the Warriors opening season victory.
 
The Warriors will travel across the crooked lake on Saturday afternoon to take on their rival Warner University at 3:30 PM on February 10^th.
 
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