By Tim Heiduk
October 12, 2019
 
(SANTA CLARITA, Calif.) The #17 Westmont volleyball team missed an opportunity to take a multiple game lead atop the GSAC standings with a four-set loss at The Master's (25-17, 21-25, 25-27, 22-25) on Saturday night. Despite the loss, Westmont (17-4 overall, 8-2 GSAC) remains in first place, a half-game ahead of Hope International and Menlo, who are both 8-3 in conference play.
 
"I told the women in the locker room, 'We still have a half-game lead, but we've got to get better at closing out games,'" said Westmont head coach Ruth McGolpin. "There needs to be some self-reflection. We need to reflect on how we can get better. There is no doubt that the effort was there, but we just weren't executing."
 
After winning the final three sets in a five-set victory over William Jessup last Saturday, Westmont continued its momentum into the first set of this match, racing out to a 3-0 lead.
 
That first set lead was extended to four points, 11-7, before three consecutive points from the Mustangs brought the home side within one, 11-10. Westmont responded with a 6-0 run to take a 17-10 advantage and then later went on a 5-0 run to extend its lead to 22-12. The Warriors went on to win the first set 25-17.
 
Westmont's momentum ended there though, as The Master's won the final three sets to win the match in four.
 
"They had a fun and noisy crowd, but we allowed them to get excited," said McGolpin.
 
In the second set, the Mustangs went ahead 6-0 before Westmont got on the board.
 
"They switched their lineup and we started off sluggishly in set two," said McGolpin.
 
The Warriors came back to within 11-12, but The Master's won 12 of the next 17 points to take a 24-16 lead. Westmont went on a 5-0 run to make the score 24-21, but it was too little too late for the visitors as the Mustangs took the second set, 25-21.
 
"They got a 6-0 lead on us and then we built it back to a one-point differential, but they bounced ahead again which killed us," said McGolpin.
 
Much like in the first set, Westmont started quickly in set three to take a 4-0 lead. The Master's responded by winning the next five points to take a one-point advantage. The two teams battled back and forth until Westmont took a 15-12 lead. Then a 5-0 run by the home side put the Mustangs ahead by two. The Master's went up 24-22, but Westmont saved two set points to tie it up, 24-24. A Cassidy Rea kill gave the Warriors set point, but the Mustangs rallied off the next three points to win the set 27-25 and take a 2-1 lead.
 
"Credit to Keelyn, she served tough on three, four balls in a row to get us to that point," said McGolpin. "We had an opportunity to shut the door with a one-point lead and had a missed serve, which opened the door for them."
 
McGolpin rued the missed opportunity to take a two-set-to-one lead going into the fourth set.
 
"I think we still continued to have fight in us, but we gave them confidence," said McGolpin. "We allowed them to have confidence from winning set three. Before that, they were not swinging hard on balls. Then they really started to swing because they had confidence."
 
The Master's took an early 3-0 lead in the fourth set before Westmont battled back to tie. With the score tied 11-11, the Mustangs scored four points in a row on their way to putting the Warriors on the brink, 24-18. The Warriors then rallied off four consecutive points themselves, but their comeback attempt fell short, as The Master's took the set and the match, 25-22.
 
"We had five aces to 11 serving errors and we just can't do that," said McGolpin. "Their serving and passing was a lot better than ours tonight. We were out of system the majority of the time. They were serving low, flat balls and we definitely struggled in our passing game.
 
"We became a little predictable with our attacking because we didn't pass the ball very well. All credit to The Master's, they played us tough. They played great."
 
Rea (15) and Hali Galloway (11) led the Warriors in kills, while Keelyn Kistner recorded 24 assists to lead the team. Lauren Friis tallied 20 digs and Cheney added 17. Lexi Malone led with eight blocks while Patty Kerman had six.
 
With eight games remaining in the conference regular season, the Warriors cling to a half-game lead entering next Friday's matchup with one of the teams right below them in the standings, Hope International.
 
"Every game is important in the title race at this point," said McGolpin. "That's how I look at it."
 
After playing Hope International in Fullerton on Friday, Westmont will then travel to San Dimas to take on Life Pacific on Saturday.
 
"They rebounded after the Vanguard loss, so I'm confident they'll come back next week and really work hard to get victories at Hope and Life Pacific," said McGolpin.