Box Score

By Christy Cain

(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Halloween is an evening marked by scaring people, and tonight the Westmont women's volleyball team did not disappoint. In a three game match against William Jessup (1-20, 1-9 GSAC), it is safe to say that the Warriors gave everyone in the gym a bit of a fright before they finally buckled down and won the match (25-22, 25-20, 25-16).

"That was a very ugly match. We did not play up to our potential at all. I don't think that anyone on the team would say that that was a good performance," cringed head Coach Patti Cook.

Westmont, a team with a significantly better record than Jessup, struggled from the moment the match began; while it was apparent that their opponent showed up to play.

"We were lazy and really did not want to work hard in order to win the game. William Jessup came out firing in the first game and showed us that we had to snap out of our lull and actually put some effort into this match," explained Cook.

With a defense that was struggling, there were a couple of players who were able to make plays happen on offense, despite what they were given. Jessica McCann was one of the women who carried tonight's team. The sophomore tallied eight kills and had a hand in three blocks.

"I was pleased by Jessica's performance. She has been playing great in practices and tonight she executed what she has been working on," continued Cook.

Thankfully, for every storm there is a silver lining. Tonight's saving grace was the debut of Junior Missy Fuerst who has been unable to play all season due to an injury that occurred in August.

"It's really nice to see Missy back out there. She has been working her tail off in practice and it is nice to reward that with playing time. She went out there and reminded us why she was a starting middle blocker for all of last year," Cook said.

Tonight, Fuerst's first match of the season, she tallied a handful of kills and a couple of blocks. With time her dominant statistics will come back, but what stood out tonight was the demeanor that she plays with. In the midst of the team struggle, Missy was working hard and continually encouraging her teammates.

"She is one of the more unselfish players. She truly has a heart for her teammates and wants to play for others. She was a nice bright light out there tonight," raved Cook.

Other contributions came from Madison Serrano with 12 kills and Sydeny Striff with nine.

"Overall I'm happy for the win, but not pleased with the team's performance. We have a long way to go up in order to play against Biola on Tuesday. We will have to play about 20 times better than we did tonight to beat a team of that caliber," closed out Cook.

The Warriors (16-12, 7-5 GSAC) are going up against #4 Biola University this Tuesday, 7PM in Murchison Gymnasium. [box]