Box Score

By Christy Cain

(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Defense was the name of the game tonight as the Westmont women's volleyball team took the court against #4 Biola University in Murchison gymnasium. While the effort was there, the Warriors were simply outmatched and unable to secure a victory over the Eagles (25-19, 27-25, 23-25, 25-18).

"Despite the loss, I was pleased with our effort on defense. Kami came up with some incredible digs, but she mainly was just steady. She had some digs that weren't the highlight digs and it was with those that we were able to run transition plays. That is exactly what we needed from her tonight" opened head coach Patti Cook.

Troesh was the leader of the pack tonight, tallying 21 digs—which is almost exactly one-third of the Warriors total dig count. She was not only a rock defense, but a consistent serve receive passer, which is one of the most overlooked yet crucial parts of the game. She was joined by senior Madison Serrano who earned 18 digs and 12 kills throughout the four set match.

"I thought that Maddi did a great job at digging as well. She as struggling in the front row a bit at first, but made up for it with her digs and serve receive," said Cook.

Unfortunately for the Warriors, Biola has a very seasoned and experienced squad that continually performs at a high level. Even the best defensive efforts could not keep their attackers from putting the ball on the ground.

"We definitely struggled against a couple of key players for them in this game. They had a few players who just ripped us to shreds. The one that we expected was middle blocker Amy Weststeyn—we knew that she is the GSAC player of the year. She a beast and there is no stopping her," reflected Cook.

Weststeyn led  Biola with 15 kills and five blocks and was one of a handful players who made up a dynamic lineup on the other side of the net.

"We really were thinking it would be an outside attack coming from Biola, so they surprised with more right-side and middle attacks and they kind of had their way with us" explained Cook. While not quite at the caliber that the Eagles were, the Westmont offense was able to make a couple of moves themselves. The team was once again led offensively by pin hitters Serrano (12 kills) and Beckman (11 kills). As a very versatile player, sophomore Jessica McCann filled a spot on the right side tonight and saw some great success—earning the highest hitting percentage on the team.

"Jess played her first full match on the right-side. I think she has earned the right to be the backup in both the outside and the right-side positions. I feel totally comfortable putting her in either pin and tonight she came through with a good attack percentage off of that one game," said Cook. "We had a hard time putting the ball away against really, really good defenders. They were getting everything up. This was one of those games where you just need to be creative and I was trying to keep Biola on their toes with some of my personnel and lineup switches. But they were too much for us this evening," Cook concluded.

The Warriors (16-13, 7-6 GSAC) will host The Masters for their last home game of the regular season this Saturday November 8 at 7PM in Murchison Gymnasium. [box] [photos]