(COSTA MESA, Calif.) This afternoon, the Warriors hit the road for their first away GSAC conference match up against #17 Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, Calif. While they were coming off of back-to-back wins from the previous weekend, Westmont was not able to keep the winning streak going and dropped the match 3-1 to Vanguard (25-18, 25-23, 20-25, 25-19).
It was an evening marked by injuries, lineup changes and interesting offensive opportunities. "We knew that this was going to be a battle and with us having two middle blockers out with injuries, it was tough. Mila played through a hurt ankle even though she was not 100% because we had another shoulder injury in practice yesterday" explained head coach Patti Cook.
While the new lineup from the Warriors earned themselves 53 kills to nearly match the Lions' 57, they unfortunately tallied 26 hitting errors—10 more than their opponent. In the game of volleyball, everything comes down to execution/ limiting your errors and that simply was coming easily for the Westmont women tonight.
From the very beginning of the match, Vanguard put up a well-balanced, evenly distributed offense that kept the Warriors of their toes. Sarah McKinny, Jessica Neves and Charolette Heerlyn each finished with double digits kills for the Lions. With everyone playing in new positions, it took a while for Westmont's offense to find a groove.
Slowly but surely, the Warriors were able to build up the energy that they needed in order to be successful toward the end of the second game, heading into the third. "The energy on the court, even with a new lineup, was great. We started out slow but were able to pick up momentum in the second game to allow us to dominate the third," declared Cook.
Due to injuries, tonight the Warriors offense relied highly upon their pin hitters to put the ball away. Thankfully, senior Madison Serrano rose to the challenge and finished with a season high of 19 kills for the match. She was also a powerhouse defender with 16 digs to cap off her double-double performance.
After winning the third game, sophomore pin hitter Sarah McGough played an essential role in keeping the Warriors within reach of winning the fourth set as well. While they fell a couple of points short, it was in this final set that McGough came alive and tallied five of her ten kills and got a hand on a couple of blocks as well.
"I was pleased with Sarah's performance on the right side and Madison played yet another outstanding match," raved Cook.
In a significant change of events, senior setter Heidi Thompson became a hitter tonight. In order to add another offensive attacking option, Thompson hit on the right side while Alexa Nestlerode set from the back row. Thompson not only finished with 30 assists, but an impressive six kills as well.
"It was a crazy match because we had to be creative with the lineup, but the team handled crazy just fine," closed out Cook.
The Warriors have a couple days to heal before they  head up north to Rocklin Calif. this Saturday the 27 to hopefully play some not-so-crazy matches against Menlo (1PM) and William Jessup (7PM).
