By Ron Smith
February 23, 2021
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Volleyball rallied from a two-set deficit on the road to extend its undefeated record to 6-0 overall and 3-0 in Golden State Athletic Conference play. The fourth-ranked Warriors dropped the first two sets 27-29 and 18-25 to the Hawks of San Diego Christian (5-4, 2-1), before taking the next three sets by scores of 25-23, 25-18 and 15-9.
 
"That was the best San Diego Christian team in my time at Westmont," said Westmont head coach Ruth McGolpin. "They were stable and steady and their defense was outstanding. We had, what I would term, the 'same-day-bus-travel blues'. It is tough to travel and play on the same day.
 
"Set one could have gone either way. We were tentative and weren't being smart hitters. We were hitting and hitting and just hoping the ball would go down. We didn't make adjustments like we needed to in the blocking.
 
"However, our players never lost sight of the task. I think that the grit and the leadership of players who had been in those tight situations in previous years was important.
 
"The difference in sets three, four and five is that our defense took flight. Then, we started to get a few of the blocks. Then, hitters like Patty Kerman stepped up, Audrey Brown stepped up and we got the ball to Kaylee Ivie for timely plays.
 
Right-side hitter Kerman, the reigning GSAC Attacking Player of the Week, produced 17 kills and a .319 attack percentage, making just two errors on 47 attempts. Middle blocker Lexi Malone added 13 kills for the Warriors and outside hitter Brooklynn Cheney added 11. Audrey Brown and Hali Galloway each contributed another eight.
 
"Our passing was steady the whole match," noted McGolpin. "I told the team that volleyball is like a game of dominoes. When you can get one domino to fall, you hope you can get all the dominoes to fall. When we started to play well, it snowballed and effected all the aspects of our game.
 
"We needed someone to step up and I think Madison Morrison was a catalyst for that. In her eyes, you could see she wanted to win. The team fed off of that. She kept a calm, steady and confident demeanor."
 
Morrison, the team's libero, produced 24 digs for the Warriors, as did Cheney. Keelyn Kistner added 23 and Lilian Reininga notched 21. Sydney Dunn, the GSAC Setter of the Week, and Kistner posted 32 and 28 assists respectively.
 
The Warriors and Hawks will match up again tomorrow afternoon before Westmont returns home to Montecito.
 
No spectators will be admitted to the game, but fans can tune into San Diego Christian's broadcast of the game at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/sdcc/.