Box Score By Jacob Norling
October 30, 2023
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Volleyball was unable to grab a set against the Chaminade Silverswords on Monday night in Santa Barbara, where the visitors finished off a season-sweep of the Warriors. After sweeping Westmont in Hawaii last week, the Silverswords repeated the feat in Murchison Gym to move to 12-3 in PacWest play.
 
Still, upon further review, Monday night saw the Warriors take several steps forward against one of the top teams in the West Region.
 
"This was night and day compared to last time," said Westmont head coach Ruth McGolpin. "We were competitive and we made them work. We caused them to call timeouts, they had to keep their starters in, and we made them work for it all night long."
 
In the first set the Warriors did themselves no favors, committing seven service errors before either team tallied so much as 20 points. Still, Chaminade made their own fair share of mistakes, with their third service error of the game allowing Westmont to tie it at 18.
 
Following Chaminade's timeout, the Silverswords were sparked by a pair of kills that allowed them to lead 21-19. Moments later the Warriors recorded a kill to stay within a pair at 23-21, but then, Chaminade recorded back-to-back kills to take the first set 25-21.
 
Chaminade scored the first four points, and five of the first six, in set two. However, Westmont quickly erased the deficit, tying the set at seven before taking an 8-7 lead after a kill from Nariah Prescott. From there, the two sides traded blows to a 16-16 tie, before a Chaminade error and another kill from Prescott forced a Silversword timeout with the Warriors ahead 18-16.
 
Chaminade answered quickly out of the timeout, recording back-to-back kills to tie it, forcing McGolpin to call a timeout of her own. Chaminade recorded another kill to lead 19-18, but a kill from Prescott, and a kill followed by a block from Sara Krueger flipped the script again, leading to another Chaminade timeout with Westmont leading 21-19.
 
The plot thickened once again moments later, when the Warriors recorded another service error before surrendering a kill, allowing Chaminade to tie it once again at 21. Out of McGolpin's final timeout, the Silverswords scored four of the set's final six points, ending things with a stuff block to win it 25-23, pulling the visitors within one game of victory
 
The Warriors scored the first four points of set three, and later on led by as many as five at 10-5. However, the Silverswords appeared unfazed, tying the set in the blink of an eye at 12-12. The two sided traded points for the next several minutes, but later on, back-to-back errors from Westmont allowed Chaminade to take an 18-16 advantage. At that point, McGolpin used her final timeout.
 
Out of the timeout the Warriors tied the set at 19, but following a 20-20 tie, Chaminade scored four consecutive points to take hold of the set. Moments later, another kill from Chaminade allowed the visitors to finish off the sweep with a 25-22 win.
 
"Even though the outcome didn't come, we still showed them what Westmont Volleyball was," continued McGolpin. "We did a remarkable job on the defensive end, I felt. Our passing was pretty good for the most part, and offensively we were able to add in some stuff we've been working on.
 
"We were neck-and-neck in those games all the way to the end. I'm super proud of the way we competed tonight."
 
The Warriors have a quick turnaround now as they return to action on Wednesday night, when they host Hawaii Hilo at 7:00 p.m. Links to tickets and live coverage are available on the Westmont Athletics website.