By Michael Letendre
When former Bristol Eastern volleyball standout Hannah Webber was deciding on her collegiate future in the sport, she knew she wanted to play on the NCAA Division I level.
And when Merrimack College – one of the newest programs in NCAA D-I – showed interest in the front-line hitter, Webber decided to link up with the Warriors program.
Right off the bat, the talented Webber was thrown into the mix.
Several first year players have to sit and watch as freshmen but at Merrimack, Webber got into the action right away for the women’s program.
The 6-foot Webber is a middle blocker for the Warriors, playing in all four matches to date.
She’s collected 24 kills overall, blocked six shots and added 27 points in what’s turned into a busy start to the 2022 campaign.
It’s a great situation for the volleyball stud from Bristol as the program at Merrimack went into the holiday break at 2-2 – putting together two big victories from the court at the University of New Hampshire.
Webber’s first collegiate contests came on August 26 as Merrimack split two matches up in Durham, New Hampshire.
The Warriors dropped its first showdown against UNH and then rebounded to defeat St. Peter’s University.
New Hampshire won it’s bout by a 3-0 push, but the Warriors rebounded with a 3-0 sweep over St. Peter’s.
In the loss to UNH, Webber posted six kills and two digs while in the victory over St. Peter’s, the competitor from Bristol etched up five kills over the winning effort.
The following day, Merrimack continued its winning ways as the Warriors defeated the University of Hartford on August 27 by a 3-1 final from UNH.
The back-to-back victories ended up being the first time the Warriors have won two straight matches in the NCAA Division I era.
Webber crammed the Hawks with a season-high nine kills, three digs, and four blocked shots over a slick stat-line to foil the soon to be NCAA Division III outfit.
Her 11 points against UHART was also a collegiate high while she tallied her first assist to date.
And on Tuesday, August 30, Holy Cross traveled to Andover, Massachusetts as the Warriors held its home opener.
Cross ended up snaring a 3-0 win with Webber reeling off four kills as the program fell to .500 to complete play over the month of August.
She’s played in every set to date, is currently third on the team in kills and second in blocked shots.
And there’s a lot more to come from the talented freshmen talent at Merrimack.
Webber had an excellent career for the Lancers volleyball program, earning Class L All-State honors by the Connecticut High School Coaches Association and was named to the 2021 AVCA HIGH SCHOOL ALL REGION 1 squad as a senior.
Last fall, she helped lead the Lancers to the Central Connecticut Conference Girls Volleyball Tournament championship as Eastern entered play as the number seven seed.
In the championship tilt, Webber posted 33 kills and two blocked shots as the Lancers came from behind to topple Simsbury, three games to one.
She helped the Kingstreeters to a deep run into the Class L state tournament fray as well before Eastern was stopped by Simsbury in the quarterfinals (28-26, 25-20, and 25-15) to end her scholastic career.
Webber, Lauren Bender and Abby Jones all earned CCC South All-Conference recognition last season as the Lancers went a perfect 7-0 in conference play – going 14-5 over regular season competition.
Eastern won over 20 matches during Webber’s senior campaign while she collected an impressive 562 kills while blocking 30 shots to lead the team.
NOTES…Fans from Bristol Eastern have a question for the volleyball competitor: Does Webber still enjoy tasty CHEEZ-IT crackers after every match at Merrimack? She always had a box in tow after defeating opponents from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium at BE. For the record, those amazing CHEEZ-IT crackers were introduced in the year 1921 as the product is now 101 years old (and counting).
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