By Jacob Norling
September 16, 2023
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Volleyball pushed Concordia to five sets in their first PacWest road match on Saturday night, but in the end, the Golden Eagles got the better of the Warriors to hand Westmont their second loss of conference play.
 
"We're so close," said Westmont head coach Ruth McGolpin. "It feels like bad luck at times, not getting some of the plays we should be getting, but we're still fighting. We're not backing down and that's the key. I love seeing that.
 
"We can't start slow, though. We aren't good enough to put ourselves in a hole. These teams are better than us, and we need to come out fast in order to get them."
 
The Golden Eagles claimed the first and third sets of the night, but each time, Westmont followed up a loss with a match-tying win. In set one, CUI opened the night on a 4-0 run, and never allowed Westmont to tie the set. Westmont got closest to CUI when it was 15-13, but then, a trio of kills allowed the Golden Eagles to rebuild their cushion en route to a 25-18 win.
 
To pull even, Westmont overcame a 12-8 deficit to first tie the game at 14, following a service ace from Hashimoto. From there, the two sides were neck and neck. Finally, following a 23-23 tie, a block from Distelberg followed by an ace from Terlizzi allowed Westmont to pull away with a 25-23 win.
 
In set three, CUI was the team to erase a deficit, with Westmont taking 6-2, 10-5, and 15-8 leads. With the score 18-14, a pair of CUI kills combined with a pair of Westmont attacking errors fully closed the gap, allowing the game to be knotted at 18.
 
Following a 20-20 tie, CUI collected a kill and a pair of service aces, giving the Golden Eagles their biggest lead at 23-20. Moments later, a kill from CUI gave the home team a 25-21 win to go up 2-1.
 
Westmont took a 22-18 lead into the end of the fourth set, but CUI threatened to end the match with a four-point swing to tie things at 22. Then, kills from Alexis Dennick and Terlizzi put Westmont up 24-23, before a counter from CUI made it a one-point game again. In clutch fashion, another kill from Dennick allowed Westmont to force the fifth set with a 25-23 win.
 
The fifth set saw two sides go back and forth several times, with CUI taking a 10-8 lead late. Then, a kill and a solo block from Phoebe Minch sent a jolt to the Westmont bench, as the senior singlehandedly tied the set at 10. Westmont later went down 13-11, but again their seniors, Terlizzi and Minch, gave Westmont life with the former recording a kill and the latter a service ace.
 
Following a 13-13 tie, however, the clock struck midnight, as a kill from CUI and a Westmont attacking error allowed the Golden Eagles to escape with a 15-13 victory, and 3-2 match win.
 
Individually, Jessie Terlizzi was the lone Warrior with double-digit kills, as the senior hit .308 with a team-high 12 kills. Also on offense, Alexa Shiner collected 18 assists while Ella Hosfeld contributed with 14. Defensively, Kaili Hashimoto led Westmont with 11 digs, while Taylor Distelberg had a team-high seven blocks.
 
"Jessie played great," acknowledged McGolpin. "We had her play right side, and she was lights out. Our two middles again had really productive days as well. There's such good signs, but set three got away from us, and in set five we made too many mistakes.
 
"There's little things, but again, we're right there. We have to limit our mistakes, and we have to start stronger. We need to be mentally prepared to start strong. The good news is that we're in these games, and sooner or later, the bubble is going to burst."
 
Westmont returns to PacWest play next Friday in San Rafael, when they take on Dominican at 7:00 p.m. Links to live coverage will be available on the Westmont Athletics website.