Box Score
By
Ron Smith
Westmont Volleyball, ranked at number two, reached the milestone of 25 straight wins with a 3-0 victory over Menlo (25-10, 25-15, 25-19). The Warriors improved to 10-0 in the Golden State Athletic Conference standings while the Oaks fell to 11-13 overall and 3-7 in conference play.
Westmont, which remains the only undefeated team in the NAIA, is three wins away from tying the program record for most wins in the regular season. The 1992 team, which was coached by Cathy Rex and featured Kelly Barnes, Cassandra Londo, Anne Malmberg and Jennifer Marzahl, went 28-4 in regular season play.
The 2016 Warriors have now tied the 1988 squad for the second most regular season wins. Lisa Cvach led that team to a 25-5 regular season record behind Joanna Rathburn, Felicia Chalmers, Susie Odell and Brenda Trejos.
In today's victory, Westmont recorded a .309 attack percentage while holding the Oaks to .086. Libby Dahlberg and Samantha Neely each notched 10 kills while posted hitting percentages of .556 and .529 respectively. Over the last two matches, Dahlberg has tallied 26 kills in 40 attempts for a hitting percentage of .600 and 3.71 kills per set.
Amy Buffham collected 19 assists in today's game while Kami Troesh produced 11 serve receptions and 10 digs.
After giving up the first point on a kill by Menlo's Emily Sunada (team high seven kills), Westmont went up 5-2 on kills by Mila Maricic, Libby Dahlberg, Taylor Beckman and Neely and service ace by Alexa Nestlerode.
The Oaks would close to within two points at 6-4 on a kill by Sofia Salim, but Westmont would score on 19 of the remaining 25 rallies to cruise to a 25-10 first set win.
The early going of the second set saw a close battle. With a 5-5 tie, however, Westmont produced a 12-2 run that put the set out of reach and accounted for the final margin of 25-15.
Westmont won 13 of the first 16 points in the third set and kept the Oaks at bay when Menlo tried to make a late run. Down 20-10, Menlo closed to within six with a 7-3 run. However, the surge fell short of overtaking the Warriors and denying Westmont its 25th win.
The Warriors have six game remaining in the regular season with five of them on the road. Westmont will travel to Santee for a match-up with San Diego Christian on Friday evening. The next day, the Warriors will play in Phoenix against Arizona Christian.
