SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Southern Wesleyan volleyball team got back to their winning ways, defeating conference foe Converse in a close five-set match on the road on Tuesday evening. With the win the Warriors improve to 14-5 overall and 9-1 in Conference Carolinas while Converse falls to 3-14 and 0-9 in conference play. The match was the first five-setter of conference play for the Warriors and the first on the season since a 3-2 loss against Montevallo on Sept. 11.

The Valkyries took the first set 25-23, though the Warriors stole back momentum by winning the second set by an emphatic 25-16. The team's would again switch wins as Converse took the third set 25-21 and the Warriors rallied back to win the fourth set again by a score of 25-16 to force a decisive fifth set. The teams would swap points the first half though the Warriors would pull away to win the set 15-10 and clinch the match.

"I'm so incredibly proud of our team tonight," said head coach Julia Reininga. "We faced some adversity, but picked each other up. We had so many players step up and really show the heart of our team."

Megan Widener led the Warrior offense with eight kills, 44 assists, and 11 digs, remarkable numbers for the senior setter. Widener was just two kills shy of a triple double. 

"Meg's performance tonight was amazing," said Reininga. 

The Warriors had a pretty even offensive attack, as three players finished with double digit kills. Paige O'Connor tallied an impressive 21 kills to lead all players. She also had one block, one ace, and 12 digs. Katie Anderson added 12 kills and five blocks, while Kendall Vallancourt had 10 kills, two aces, three digs and one solo block. 

The Warriors held the Valkyries to hitting percentages of 0 for both the fourth and fifth sets as Converse had both six kills and six errors in both. Southern Wesleyan hit .250 and .316 in those sets, respectively, and it proved to make a big difference. 

The Warriors have a quick turn around and head back on the road to face North Greenville on Thursday evening at 7 p.m.