By Jacob Norling
August 17, 2021
 
(FULLERTON, Calif.) Westmont Volleyball (2-0) opened up the season on Tuesday by claiming a pair of games at the Hope International Summer Slam in Fullerton. In the morning, the Warriors battled back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat College of Idaho in five sets, and in the afternoon the club was able to sweep Embry-Riddle (Ariz.).
 
In game one against the Coyotes, the Warriors got off to a sluggish start, dropping back-to-back sets by a score of 25-18. Through the first two sets, Westmont had committed 11 attacking errors, leading to a miniscule .121 attack percentage. Also hurting the Warriors was their inability to match Idaho's defense at the net. Through two sets, Idaho had collected eight blocks compared to Westmont's three.
 
"We had some runs in sets one and two, but overall we looked frantic," said Westmont head coach Ruth McGolpin. "We were not having good touches, and our blocks were too early. Then we made a complete lineup switch. We moved Jessie Terlizzi to the opposite, we put Addie Paul on the outside, and we moved Taylor Distelberg to the middle."
 
When Keelyn Kistner notched an ace to begin the third set, the Warriors took their first lead of the match. Westmont and Idaho stayed neck-and-neck during the first half of set three and were knotted at 13 after Terlizzi's sixth kill of the match. Phoebe Minch then collected a pair of service aces giving the Warriors a 15-13 lead, causing Idaho to take their first timeout of the set.
 
"Phoebe got us rolling in the third set," said McGolpin. "Her serving allowed us to get our feet settled and then our passing was much better."
 
Out of the timeout, Minch, who collected eight service aces during the match, continued to serve the ball well and watched the Warriors jump out to their biggest lead of the day at 19-13. The third set was capped off by Patty Kerman's sixth kill of the match, which kept the Warriors alive with a 25-19 win.
 
"We got on the backs of some of our returners to pull ourselves back into the game," noted McGolpin. "Down the stretch Jessie Terlizzi was a catalyst for us. What got us rolling was Phoebe's serving, our aggressive attacking, and the setters making smart plays to keep us in a groove."
 
Another pair of aces by Minch allowed Westmont to put some distance between them and Idaho early in the fourth set. Terlizzi's eighth kill of the match gave the club a 9-2 lead, their biggest lead of the match yet. Idaho pulled back within three to make the score 17-14. Then, a pair of Westmont freshmen reclaimed momentum, as Addie Paul's fourth kill and Taylor Distelberg's game-high fifth block put the club back up by five.
 
"Our touches got a lot better but our blocking was what really made the difference," said McGolpin. "Our blocking allowed our defense to play off the net and it really improved our passing game.
 
"Taylor looked like a deer in the headlights in the first two sets," joked McGolpin. "That's a part of being a freshman though. When we shifted her to the middle, which is her comfort zone, she looked like a completely different person. Addie passed really well and as she got confident she took some good rips at the ball."
Paul's fifth and sixth kills gave the Warriors a dominant 25-15 win to force a decisive fifth set.
 
The club's traded points for the first half of set five, with the score being tied at 8. A service error, attacking error, and a Kerman kill allowed the Warriors to pull away with an 11-8 lead. A pair of Idaho timeouts could not slow the Warriors down the stretch, as Terlizzi's 11th kill gave Westmont a 15-10 victory, securing the reverse sweep over College of Idaho.
 
"Earlier in the match we had a timeout where I told the team 'you've got to be willing to make some mistakes'" said McGolpin. "I told them it was okay to make mistakes but that we had to remain aggressive. We were just giving them free balls and they were hammering them. To come back and build that confidence in each other was huge."
 
Terlizzi and Kerman collected a team-high 11 kills each during the match. Westmont's Kistner and Sydny Dunn tallied 18 assists each.
 
In the afternoon against Embry Riddle, Westmont fell behind 13-9 in the first set before going on a four-point run that led to an Eagles timeout. Out of the timeout the club kept on coming, scoring another four points for an eight-point swing to take a 17-13 lead.
 
Thanks to an ace by Dunn and kills by Terlizzi and Minch, the club continued to pull away. To close out the first set Kaylee Ivie collected her third kill giving Westmont a 25-21 victory.
 
Westmont quickly went down 4-0 in the second set, but then unfortunately for the Eagles, Terlizzi took over. Terlizzi could not be stopped at the net as the sophomore collected five kills during a 10-2 Warriors run that put the club on top 10-6.
 
Embry-Riddle rallied soon after to pull within one, but Westmont pulled away late in the second set thanks to a spread out attack that ensured the Eagles kept their hands full. Minch's seventh kill of the match clinched the second set by a score of 25-21.
 
Minch continued her dominance in the third set along with the freshmen Paul. Those two combined with Terlizzi collected eight early kills giving the Warriors half of their first 16 points. The Warriors jumped out to an 18-11 lead heading into an Embry-Riddle timeout and was able to hold off a late Eagles rally, ultimately winning the third set by a score of 25-22.
 
Overall, Minch and Terlizzi each collected 13 kills in the match, while Paul added seven of her own. Dunn and Kistner added 16 and 19 assists.
 
"Embry-Riddle is a good team," said McGolpin. "That was definitely a more complete game from us. Our blocking was really good and our defensive grit was great as well. Kaili Hashimoto played great as Libero today, Taylor had a ton of blocks that were needed, and Phoebe and Jessie were obviously on fire."
 
Westmont will play two more tomorrow with the first match beginning at 8:00 a.m. against Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.) and the second scheduled for 3:30 p.m. against UC Merced. The first half of the double header will surely be intriguing, due to the fact that Westmont eliminated Benedictine Mesa last season, during an Opening Round matchup in Santa Barbara.
 
"Benedictine is an athletic team and we know that," noted McGolpin. "We're a completely different team now and we have a couple big games against two very good Cal Pac teams tomorrow. Either one of those teams could have faced us in the postseason and could be there again, so we know we have work to do."