LAKE WALES, Fla. – In convincing fashion, Warner University women's volleyball team swept Southeastern University 3-0 (26-24, 25-22, 27-25) on Thursday night in the Turner Athletic Center. The win improves the Lady Royals' record to 4-7 overall and 3-1 in the Sun Conference. The Fire fall to 9-6 with the loss and are now 4-2 in league play.
The tone was set early in the match with a back and forth first set between the two Polk County rivals. Both teams exchanged 4-0 runs to start the set and then went on to swap the lead five times with nine tie scores. The Fire looked poised to go up 1-0 with a 24-22 lead before the Lady Royals stormed back with another 4-0 run to take the 1-0 lead for themselves. Marisa Moralobo started her night off with six kills in the first set to lead all players.
In the second set, the Lady Royals led by as many as four earlier saw their lead vanish and the Fire take a three point lead, 10-7. The back and forth chess match continued until Nicole Wittmer capped off a 5-2 Warner run with the winning kill, 25-22. Wittmer totaled four kills in the set.
The Fire led by as many as six points, 11-5, in the third set as the Lady Royals committed seven errors early on. A kill by Tiffani Pate sparked a 9-4 run for Warner that tied the set up at 14-14. From there the Fire took the lead again only to see the Lady Royals take their first lead of the game, 20-19. Wittmer was in the mix again at the end picking up the deciding kill to give Warner the 27-25 win and match victory.
Marisa Moralobo led all players with 14 kills in the match. She also added seven digs and two service aces. Adrienne Czaplewski finished the game with eight kills and 11 digs.
Rachel Stanton led the offense with 34 assists while coming up with eight digs. Libero Heather Lockwood had 10 digs for the backrow and was perfect passing the ball on the night in 20 attempts.
On Saturday, Sept. 27, the Lady Royals welcome Embry-Riddle University to the Turner Athletic Center. The Sun Conference match is scheduled to start at 2 p.m.
