By Ron Smith
October 5, 2018
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) The Warriors' outside hitters combined for 26 kills and a .460 attack percentage on Friday night as #17 Westmont (15-4, 6-3 GSAC) defeated Ottawa of Arizona (9-8, 4-6) in straight sets (25-12, 25-13, 25-22).
 
Hali Galloway recorded 14 kills on 26 attempts while recording a .500 attack percentage while Brooklynn Cheney went 12 of 24 and hit .417.
 
"Hali and Brooklynn were absolutely on fire," said Westmont head coach Patti Cook. "It was fun to see them swing away and be able to find the court down the line, find it in the seam and find it in the angle. They were unstoppable.
 
"Their success has a lot to do with (middle blockers) Kaylee Ivie and Samantha Neely coming in hard and drawing the block. It has a lot to do with (setter) Amy Buffham staying deceptive with setting and continuing to find the hot hands. It is also a huge credit to our passing and ball control. We were able to hold the block and find a lot of holes for all of our hitters."
 
The Spirit jumped out to an early lead, grabbing a 6-2 advantage in the first set. However, the Warriors responded with an 8-1 run to pull ahead 10-7.  Four kills by Neely, two by Cheney and one by Galloway contributed to the Warriors' turnaround.
 
"It was good to see us pickup our game after starting off a little slow," noted Cook. "The hitters were coming in a little unaggressive. Then they snapped it into action pretty quickly."
 
After a kill by Ottawa's Austin Edwards to make the score 10-8, Westmont scored on 14 of the next 16 serves. Westmont produced a team hitting percentage of .571 in the opening frame.
 
"We did a good job executing the game plan," offered Cook. "We knew we had to look out for the setter dumping and we knew we had to look out for tips. We had a little tougher time with the deeper tips, but it was good to see the team zero in on the information that we gave them and be expecting it."
 
With a 9-6 lead in the second set, Ivie recorded a kill resulting in a sideout that sent Galloway to the service line. The sophomore served for seven straight points to give Westmont a 17-6 advantage and put the set out of reach.
 
In the third set, Westmont jumped out to a 16-7 lead and looked like they might close out the match with ease. However, the Spirit rallied and put together a 13-6 run to bring Ottawa to within two points (22-20).
 
"Ottawa started serving a lot tougher, started picking up more balls on defense and coming in more aggressive offensively," reported Cook. "That is what we were expecting from them the entire game. It caught us off guard that it came so late."
 
On the next two points, the teams traded attack errors to make the score 23-21 in favor of the Warriors. Buffham responded by dumping the ball over the net to give Westmont match point at 24-21.
 
After Ottawa's Jorie Mayfield delivered a kill to make the score 24-22, Galloway settled the matter with a kill to give Westmont its fourth win in as many games.
 
Less than two weeks after falling into seventh place in the GSAC standings, Westmont has claimed sole possession of second. However, the Warriors stand just one-half game ahead of four teams. Fifteenth-ranked Vanguard and Hope International have 5-3 conference records. Arizona Christian and Ottawa have conference marks of 6-4. The Master's (20-3, 9-0) leads the GSAC by three games.
 
Westmont will host Arizona Christian tomorrow afternoon in Murchison Gymnasium. First serve is scheduled for two o'clock.