By Ron Smith
December 1, 2017
 
(SIOUX CITY, Iowa) The 2017 Westmont Volleyball season came to an end this evening in the quarterfinals of the NAIA National Championship. The sixth-ranked Warriors fell in three sets to the Defenders of Dordt College (31-7) by scores of 25-18, 25-19 and 27-25.
 
Middle blocker Libby Dahlberg led the Warriors with 12 kills while right side hitter Samantha Neely tallied eight. As a team, the Warriors recorded just a .179 attack percentage while Dordt swung away at a .288 clip.
 
Dordt's offense was led by middle blocker Leah Kamp who produced 18 kills.
 
The Warriors led by as much as four points in the third set (17-13), but were unable to hold on to the lead and extend the contest to four sets. The Warriors staved off two match points before Dordt claimed the victory on a block by Ally Krommendyk and Jamie Gesink.
 
The loss brought an end to a successful season which saw the Warriors win their second-straight GSAC Regular Season Championship and extended their conference win streak to 30 games. Westmont also won the inaugural GSAC Tournament Championship, defeating Vanguard in five sets.
 
Dahlberg was named the GSAC Player of the Year and Dahlberg, Taylor Beckman, Neely and Cassidy Rea were named to the All-GSAC team. Brooklynn Cheney was named the GSAC Freshman of the Year.
 
This year's team made a significant impact on the Westmont single-season record book. Dahlberg's season attack percentage of .432 eclipsed the previous record by .033 percent. Amy Buffham took over first place in serve attempts at 720 and Lauren Friis cracked the top-10 in digs with 512. Dahlberg's 124 block assists ranks third all-time in the single-season list and her 148 total blocks ranks fourth.
 
As a team, the Warriors had more kills than any previous Warrior squad, tallying 1,966. The team's season attack percentage of .254 ranks third all-time. The team also set a new mark for assists with 1,851. As for serving, the Warriors' serve percentage of .926 was third best in program history. The 2017 team placed second in total digs, collecting 2,459.
 
Three seniors saw their Westmont careers come to an end.
 
Beckman's finally tally of kills in her career is 1,098 ranks 12th in Westmont history and her 1,255 digs ranks 11th.
 
Mila Maricic left her name in the career record book with a .275 attack percentage, 13th best of all Warriors. She also ranks 19th in blocks per set at 0.71
 
Lindsay Paulo ranked second on the team this season in service aces with 29.
 
Over the past two season, Westmont has produced a record of 70-6, giving the Warriors a two-year winning percentage of .921 and a promising future.