By Ron Smith
November 2, 2018
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Volleyball (23-4, 14-3 GSAC), ranked at #15 in the NAIA, avenged an earlier loss by sweeping the Royals of Hope International (16-13, 9-8) in straight sets (25-20, 25-9, 25-18). As a result, Westmont has clinched at least a second place finish in the GSAC standings and has secured a bye for the first round of next week's GSAC Tournament.
 
"We are so excited for this win," said Westmont head coach Patti Cook. "It was definitely an emotional game for us because of what happened when we played Hope in Fullerton. We didn't play well, we didn't play our game and we lost our best player (Libby Dahlberg) to an ankle sprain. We came into this game knowing we had to fight ourselves and our emotions and to fight a very well rounded team.
 
"Hope has good arms in every single position. We knew that if they got into the flow and rhythm of their offense they are tough to beat. Our focus was to serve tough, to serve away from their libero and to get their offense in trouble. Our servers did a very good job with that. Hope had to set from the 3-meter line most of the night."
 
Defensively, Westmont produced 74 digs and 44 serve receptions. Lauren Friis produced 20 digs and had three serve receptions. Brooklynn Cheney notched 19 kills and 20 serve receptions. Madison Morrison tallied 12 digs and 15 serve receptions. Hali Galloway totaled nine kills and four serve receptions.
 
"Lauren made some very athletic plays tonight," offered Cook. "She was flying around, getting a lot of balls that I didn't think she had any business getting. She was still getting them up and that was really impressive. Hali made some really athletic plays as well. Hali made some gutsy dives with good ball control at the end of it. Madison was spectacular. She made some really amazing plays. She has done a great job of anchoring us on defense."
 
Offensively, Cassidy Rea pounded down 12 kills, without committing an attack error, to lead the Warriors. Rea produced a .444 attack percentage. Samantha Neely added 11 kills for the Warriors while hitting .250. Brooklynn Cheney connected for eight kills and Hall Galloway notched seven."
 
"Cassidy was a force out there," assessed Cook, "hammering away and taking full swings. Hali hit well for us. She was ripping them out on the left side. I always like my outsides to hit above .200 and she hit .231.
 
"Hope was a little more tuned into Sam. She had four hands in front of her a lot of the night. She handled that with poise and found a way to score.
 
"Kaylee Ivie (four kills on seven attempts) had a good offense game – she didn't make any errors on her attacks. Kaylee was also getting a lot of block touches."
 
Five-time GSAC Setter of the Week Amy Buffham coordinated the attack for the Warriors and recorded 38 assists.
 
"Amy did a nice, steady job of running the offense," said Cook. "There were rallies where she was setting four, five, six or seven times and was making good sets every time. She stayed patient with it and diversified the offense until the hitters finally put it away."
 
In other GSAC action, #13 The Master's (26-5, 15-2) recorded a 3-1 win over #18 Vanguard (24-7, 11-6). Arizona Christian (15-9, 11-7) posted a 3-1 win over Ottawa (16-13, 8-10). Life Pacific (8-20, 3-14) picked up a 3-0 win over San Diego Christian (7-22, 1-16).
 
With one game remaining in the regular season, The Master's remains in first place, one game ahead of Westmont. The Master's will play Life Pacific tomorrow while Westmont will host San Diego Christian. Both games are scheduled to begin at seven o'clock.
 
Vanguard is in third place, three games behind Westmont and half a game ahead of Arizona Christian who is in fourth. Fifth place is occupied by Menlo who is one-half game behind Arizona Christian. Hope International is now in sixth place, one game behind Menlo.