For the second time in a week, Westmont Volleyball (11-11, 4-5 GSAC) came close to knocking off a top-25 team. The Warriors held a two-set-to-one lead before falling to #17 Vanguard (18-7, 7-3) in five sets (25-19, 16-25, 16-25, 25-23, 15-13) on Saturday night in Murchison Gymnasium.
"I thought the team played hard and with a lot of heart and executed the game plan very well," said Westmont head coach Patti Cook. "There were just a couple of plays here and there that went Vanguard's way.
The Warriors led the match in several statistical categories including total points (105 to 97), total kills (67-54), hitting percentage (.231 to .195), blocks (14 to seven) and service aces (six to two). But it was not enough to pull off the upset.
"We played very well against them and hung tight," said Cook. "We hit better than them but their defense was frustrating our offense. They have good defense on hard-driven balls. Once we started getting the ugly kills in the second set, things started going our way."
Westmont was down one set and behind 7-4 in the second when momentum started to flow in the Warriors' direction. Westmont went on a 16-5 run that included six straight points with Heidi Thompson (38 assists, 5 kills) serving. Madison Serrano (12 kills, 11 digs) and Ciena Colburn (12 kills, 10 blocks) each notched three kills during the Warrior rally while Sarah McGough (11 kills, 4 blocks) added two more.
"I made a couple of lineup changes after the first set," reported Cook. "We tried to get a couple of our blockers matched up with particular hitters. It made a difference to slow down their hitters. Our block was very effective in the second game.
The momentum that carried the Warriors to wins in both the second and third set, switched sides in the fourth set. Vanguard jumped out to a 9-5 lead and held a five-point differential at 15-10. The Warriors, however, battled back and tied the set at 22 points apiece on a kill by McGough.
After Vanguard scored on a kill by Charlotte Heerlyn (9 kills), Colburn pounded down the ball to even the score at 23. However, Vanguard captured two more points on a block by Sarah McKinny (10 kills) and Marissa Laster (6 kills) and a kill by Laster to even the match at two sets apiece.
The final set was closely contested but the Warriors held an 8-6 lead at the crossover. After McKinny made it 8-7, Westmont scored the next two points on kills by Sydney Striff (5 kills, 6 blocks) and Serrano to go up 10-7.
Vanguard responded with a 6-1 run to take a 13-11 advantage. After a Vanguard service error, McGough tied the deciding game at 13 with her 11th kill of the night. It proved to be the Warriors' final point of the contest, however, as Vanguard closed out the match with a kill from Jessica Neves (11 kills) and a ball handling error on the Warriors.
Despite the result, Cook had a good bit of praise for her players.
"Our middles did a fantastic job," said Cook. "Not only did they hit well, but they got their hands on a lot of balls that slowed it down for our defense. You can't stat things like touches on the block, but they are really crucial for our defense.
"Heidi did a good job seeing the block and creating holes. I've never seen her dumps be so successful. They were great tonight and well placed.
"Sarah played her usual good, steady self and even a little bit better. We expect her to hit in the .200-.250 range, so anything above that is fantastic."
McGough posted a .300 attack percentage.
"Kami Troesh (26 digs) dug a lot of balls right to the setter which allowed us to run a good offense off of our transition," remarked the coach.
The Warriors return to action on Tuesday when they take on the Golden Eagles of La Sierra in Riverside in a non-conference match-up. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
