WU-STU l WU-ERAU
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Warner University women registered their first postseason win in school history earlier today (Nov. 12) as they upset #4 seed St. Thomas University (Fla.) 3-1 (25-18, 21-25, 25-18, 25-23) in the first round of the Sun Conference Tournament hosted by Embry-Riddle University in the ICI Center. The Royals advanced to the semi-final round were they were defeated by the #1 seed Eagles 3-0 (16-25, 13-25, 17-25) to close their season above .500 with a 16-14 record.
In their first match of the day, three Royals posted double-digits in kills with freshman Brittany Woods leading the way with 12 on .455 hitting. All-Conference outside hitter Jenni Cook tallied a double-double with 11 kills and a match-high 18 digs. Jennifer Daun also registered 11 kills. Team captain Aysha Nickels posted 44 assists to go along with three kills, one service ace, eight digs and one block. Slavica Stefanovic led the Bobcats offensive attack with a match-high 16 kills.
The Royals found themselves down early in the first set as the Bobcats jumped out to a 13-7 lead behind three kills by Stefanovic. The Royals rallied in the set and knotted the set at 15-15 on a Bobcat attack error. The Royals went on to take a 17-16 lead on a kill from Woods and never looked back. The Woods kill sparked an 8-2 run by the Royals highlighted by back-to-back kills from Daun that extended the Royals lead to 24-18 before another Bobcat miscue gave the Royals the set.
In the second set, the roles were reversed as the Royals took an early 15-9 lead before the Bobcats ran off an 8-1 run to take the lead. The Royals tied the set at 17, however kills from Kaley Bueno, Nicole Barraza helped to give the Bobcats the lead and back-to-back service aces from Barraza closed out the set to give the Bobcats the set and tie the match 1-1.
The Royals dominated the Bobcats in the third set taking a quick 9-4 lead on back-to-back kills from Woods, forcing the Bobcats to take a timeout. The Bobcats timeout proved not to help as Nickels added a kill of her own to push the Royals lead to 10-4. The Royals maintained their lead for the remainder of the set eventually sealing the win on a Daun kill.
The Royals carried the momentum from the third set into the final set of the match, posting a match high .308 hitting percentage as a team. The fourth set was a highly contested game with nine ties; however the Royals never allowed the Bobcats to take the lead after the Bobcats’ initial 1-0 lead. The final tie of the set saw the Royals and Bobcats at a 21-21 stalemate before Daun scored the go-ahead kill to give the Royals the lead. The Royals eventually took a 24-21 lead when back-to-back Bobcats kills closed the Royals lead to 24-23 forcing the Royals to take a timeout. During the timeout the Royals drew up the game winning play, giving Rachel Capra the opportunity to score the game-winning kill with an assist from Nickels.
In their second match of the day, the Royals were not as fortunate as the Eagles proved too much for the Royals defeating them in three straight sets. Cook led the Royals with eight kills, while Nickels tallied a double-double with 20 assists and 10 digs. The Royals defense held Sun Conference Player of the Year Abby Hall to only seven kills while Jordan Holcomb and Taylor Martin picked up the Eagles offensive attack with 13 kills apiece.