MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – No. 2 seed Webber International defeated no. 1 seed St. Thomas in four sets (14-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-19) Saturday afternoon at The Sun Conference Championship Tournament Finals. With the win, Webber International earns an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championships.
St. Thomas won the first set 25-14, before Webber International rattled off three straight set wins to take the championship. The Warriors won the second set 25-22 winning eight of the final 13 points of the set. In the third set, WIU took a large lead before holding off the Bobcats for a 25-20 win to go up 2-1 in sets. In the fourth set, WIU built a 21-13 lead. The Bobcats came back with a 5-1 run to cut the lead to 22-18. Following a WIU timeout, the Warriors won three of the next four points to take the set 25-19 and win the match.
St. Thomas was led by Conference Player of the Year
Whitney Battoe with 16 kills, 11 digs and four blocks.
Carly Durr registered 12 kills to add on the attacking side. Setter
Kimberly Martino registered 35 assists, 15 digs, five kills and three blocks. On the defensive end,
Victoria Philpot led all players with 10 blocks to go along with five kills. Philpot had more blocks than the entire WIU team combined.
The Bobcats also had four players with double-digit digs:
Haley Bannister (team-high 19), Martino (15), Battoe (11), and
Kelli Kosydor (10). Â
STU, which won regular season conference title with a 15-1 record, will now await announcement of the pairings for the NAIA National Championships Opening Round which will take place on Saturday, November 18 at campus sites.
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