(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Sixty-four minutes was all it took for the Westmont women's volleyball team to take down Hope International in a three game sweep tonight in Murchison Gymnasium (25-14, 25-13, 25-15).

The fastest match of the season can by highly attributed to the stellar defensive performance that the Warriors put on tonight. This match was seemingly a complete 180 degree turn from the defensive struggle that unfolded last Tuesday in Westmont's loss against The Masters. "I am feeling really good about this win. We worked our tails off in practice this week on our defense. We focused on all defensive work and intentionally made them better. That Masters game pointed out that we can be undisciplined, move quite a bit on defense and not be in the right places, so we worked on all aspects of moving and defending. It was great to see our hard work pay off on the court tonight" said Cook.

In volleyball, a good defense starts with the serve and with five aces on the match, the Warriors were able to catch Hope off guard and maintain some strong serving streaks. The longest run came from Freshman Taylor Beckman who went on a 12 point serving rampage that widened the point margin so much that the Royals were never quite able to rally back and recover. Beckman tallied three of the team's five aces and was a force to be reckoned with at the service line. When asked about the freshman's performance, Cook said, "I spoke about her to the team after the game and pointed out how awesome she did. She has a tendency to rush her serve and tonight it was evident that she was taking her time to fully set up every single serve."

With multiple players returning from injuries tonight, everyone was able to play in their known positions. "The team was very happy to back in their normal spots. It was really nice to see us play well together and produce what we had been working on all week," said Cook. Having both Ciena Colburn and Mila Maricic back in the middle made a significant difference tonight with the team earning nine blocks, while the Royals tallied none. Cook went on to say, "Hope International is not a bad hitting team at all. We simply made them struggle in their offense because of our solid defense. Nine blocks is fantastic and it is a large part to the fact that our two middle blockers are back."

Offensively, the Warriors were well balanced and firing on all cylinders. With great serve receive coming from the back row, the setters, Thompson (12 assists) and Nestlerode (18 assists), came out with hot hands and were able to evenly distribute the ball to all three positions. Sydney Striff was tonight's attack leader with nine kills, zero errors on 12 attempts earning a .750 hitting percentage. Ciena Colburn earned six kills while Serrano, McGough and McCann each tallied five apiece.

Tonight's performance was a complete team effort as every single healthy girl on the roster saw playing time. Each one of them seemed to capitalize on their opportunities. "Lindsay stepped in nicely as an outside hitter. Jessica McCann subbed in and came up big for us tonight. She was swinging high, hard, and smart. Everyone was key in our offensive performance. It is great to be so deep in the positions that everyone gets some time. As a coach I love to get as many people as I can into the match," closed out Cook.

While tonight's match was short and sweet, the Warriors know that they have another battle on their hands this upcoming Tuesday October 7 as they head down to La Mirada, Calif. to take on #5 Biola University at 7PM.