Cleveland, GA – The Webber International men's volleyball team jumped back into conference play action after their three-week break in their schedule and faced off against the Truett McConnell Bears on Friday afternoon. Following in consistent fashion with the Warriors 2024 season to this point, they swept the Bears for the second time this season three sets to none to continue their unbeaten streak.
The Warriors showed no signs of rust on their return to play on Friday afternoon, taking early command in set one jumping out to an early 4-2 lead after the first kill of the day from Gunter Perea.
Thoralf Schmelzer and
Daniel Beacham would secure back-to-back kills for the Warriors just after bringing the score to 7-4 Warriors. Beacham would rack up three kills in the first 10 points for the Warriors, with
Kevin McCarthy throwing two kills of his own to push the lead to 12-8 for the Warriors. Following a trio of kills from
Carson Barnes and Schmelzer, the Bears would call a timeout down 16-10, but the Warriors kept on pushing the lead higher out of the timeout. The Bears would attempt the comeback bringing the score within three at 18-15, but two kills from McCarthy, three service aces by Schmelzer and Barnes would finish off the first set victory for the Warriors as they rattled off seven straight points to win set one 25-15.
The Warriors would continue their scoring run to open up set two, with kills from
Andrew Nielsen and Schmelzer to give the Warriors an early 3-0 lead. Schmelzer would lead the Warriors with three kills through beginning portion of the frame and
Joshua Corr and
Kornel Szabo would tally on two kills each to help sustain the Warriors lead as the Bears tried to make it competitive. The Warriors would lead 11-9 after a Szabo kill and once again a huge Warriors run would put away the set early as they scored eight straight points with Schmelzer adding three more aces to his tally to put the game out of reach. The Bears would fight back towards the end of the set, but the Warriors potent offensive attack proved too much for the Bears in the second set, and the Warriors would win their second straight set 25-18.
The Warriors would continue putting together scoring runs through set three. The first run for the Warriors would come with a 3-0 run with a kill and service ace from Barnes giving the Warriors a 6-3 lead. Another Warriors 3-0 run would bring them their largest lead of the set at 9-4. A litany of Bears mistakes would create a wide margin for the Warriors as they went up 16-7. The Bears would call a timeout after another Barnes kill at 18-9 and out of the timeout Perea would deliver a strike on the serve to earn the ace for the Warriors. One final scoring run for the Warriors would wrap up the game as
Cesar Remedios and
Tinashe Makona would tally a kill and
Ayden Keeter, the setup man for the Warriors who finished with 34 assists on the day would add two service aces to his stat line as the Warriors rolled through the Bears for the second time this season 25-16 in set three to win the match 3 sets to none.
The Warriors will continue their road portion of their schedule next Friday evening at 6:00 PM a against the Reinhardt University Eagles in Waleska, GA.
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