Westmont College Athletics

By Tim Heiduk
December 6, 2019
 
(SIOUX CITY, Iowa) The Westmont women's volleyball team advanced to the semifinals of the NAIA National Tournament for the third time in program history after upsetting #1 Park (Mo.) in the quarterfinals on Friday night in a five-set thriller (25-14, 25-21, 25-27, 22-25, 15-13). The Warriors will play Viterbo (Wis.) tomorrow at 11 a.m. CST (9 a.m. PST) with a chance to advance to their first ever national championship game.
 
"It's out of a storybook. We barely made it to here, that's what's so crazy about this whole thing," Westmont head coach Ruth McGolpin said. "We got picked to finish third in our conference. Then we got knocked out of the national rankings. The road has been a difficult road and I do believe that has made us stronger."
 
This was the third time Westmont had reached the NAIA quarterfinals in the past four years. The Warriors lost the previous two times, including in 2016 to Park. Westmont also lost to Park during pool play of last year's national tournament.
 
"We've got two monkeys off our back in this tournament – the Columbia win in three and the Park win," McGolpin said. "I can't believe how great the women are playing, it's unbelievable. The defense is spectacular."
 
The quarterfinal win was the Warriors' first ever victory over the Pirates after entering the match 0-3 against Park.
 
Westmont looked to be in cruise control after taking a two-set-to-none lead over the top-seeded Pirates, with the Warriors winning the first set by double-digit points (25-14) and the second set 25-21. However, Park won the next two sets to force a deciding fifth set, putting Westmont in jeopardy of losing out on a spot in the semifinals.
 
"We had a 2-0 lead and in the third set, their setter went down with an injury," McGolpin said. "They rallied with a brand new setter to come back and win that third set. In the fourth set, they pretty much took it to us.
 
"In set five, we talked about going back to the things that have made us successful thus far. Taking risks for the setters with our middles was important. We needed to get back to running the middle offense. Then defensively, we had that grit mindset and we needed to be contesting every little play that happened."
 
Park continued its momentum by taking a 4-2 lead in the fifth, but a Malone kill and a Pirate attacking error tied the set at 4-4. Westmont then took the lead, 6-5, prompting a Park timeout. The Warriors extended their advantage to 9-6 after a Kendall Kenyon attack snuck inside the line.
 
The Pirates battled back to within one, forcing a Warrior timeout. After Park tied up the set at 10-10, the teams traded points before Westmont earned match point at 14-12. The Pirates saved the first match point, but Cassidy Rea then clinched the match for the Warriors with a kill off Park's block, sending the Westmont bench into a frenzy.
 
"On the final play, Cassidy had no idea it was game point," McGolpin said. "I said to Keelyn (Kistner), 'Set Cass the ball.' Cass turned after the ball went out of bounds and said, 'Alright, let's do it again.' She had no idea we'd won the game. Then she collapsed in tears of joy."
 
Hali Galloway led the Warriors with 20 kills (.386 attacking percentage), while Rea (17), Brooklynn Cheney (12), and Lexi Malone (12) also reached double digits. Kenyon added eight kills with a team-high .533 attacking percentage.
 
Keelyn Kistner (34 assists, 18 digs) and Sydny Dunn (25 assists, 19 digs) were instrumental for the Warriors. Cheney led the team with 26 digs, while Lauren Friis tallied 24. Malone's six blocks were a team high.
 
Westmont earned the chance to play Park in the quarterfinals after defeating #7 Eastern Oregon in the first round in four sets (25-22, 24-26, 25-19, 25-23) earlier on Friday.
 
"Our serving has been great," McGolpin said. "We've been hitting the zones that we need to serve to."
 
In the first round win over the Mountaineers, Cheney recorded 39 digs, the second highest total of her career and tied for the eighth most in a single match in program history.
 
The Warriors raced out to an early 3-0 lead in the first set. The Mountaineers battled back to tie it up 9-9 before Westmont reeled off five straight points to go ahead 14-9. Eastern Oregon immediately responded with five consecutive points of its own to tie the set at 14-14. Westmont went back ahead 20-17 only to see Eastern Oregon tie the score again at 20-20. With the set then tied at 22-22, the Warriors scored the next three points to win the set 25-22.
 
In the second set, Eastern Oregon ran out to an early 6-0 lead, which was then extended to 8-1. Westmont climbed its way back to tie the set 11-11 before taking the lead at 13-12. The Warriors extended their advantage to 19-15 and held set point at 24-21, but the Mountaineers stormed back to win the final six points of the set to win 26-24 and even the match.
 
Westmont held a 13-11 lead in the third set before going on a 6-0 run, sparked by three Eastern Oregon attacking errors and kills from three different Warriors. That eight-point lead was more than enough for Westmont, who won the third set 25-19.
 
The fourth set was much closer, as the two teams battled back and forth in the early going. With a slim 17-16 advantage, Westmont scored four points in a row to extend its lead to 21-16. Eastern Oregon then came back to tie the set at 22-22 and 23-23, but two Rea kills clinched the match for the Warriors, 25-23 in the fourth set.
 
Against Eastern Oregon, Rea led Westmont with 20 kills and a .375 attacking percentage. Galloway was next with 13 kills, while Malone had 11. Dunn led the Warriors with 27 assists and Kistner added 26.
 
Malone recorded 10 total blocks, while Friis tallied 26 digs.
 
The winner of tomorrow's semifinal match will advance to play in the National Championship tomorrow night at 7 p.m. CST (5 p.m. PST). Westmont is 1-1 all-time against Viterbo, with the Warriors' lone win against the V-Hawks coming in their most recent matchup, a three-set sweep in the first round of the 2016 NAIA National Tournament.
 
"We'll just be the same happy-go-lucky people that we are," McGolpin said. "We're not going to change anything just because we're here."