By Jacob Norling
November 1, 2024
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Volleyball (11-9, 6-7 PacWest) took care of their old GSAC rivals the Menlo Oaks (8-12, 5-8) on Friday night in Santa Barbara, when the Warriors disposed of their opposition in three sets. While the Oaks got progressively closer in the eventual 25-21, 25-22, 25-23 win, Westmont would never quite let Menlo over the hump on a happy night inside The Murch.
 
"Clean sweep, love it," began Westmont head coach Ruth McGolpin. "We played Menlo at the beginning of the season and they were much-improved from then, but luckily, so were we. It was nice that this week's practices paid off, where we did a lot of drills with 20-20 scores, and 20-18 scores, situations like that.
 
"We definitely put it into action tonight so that was good."
 
The night began with a celebration of Westmont's graduating class, which featured a quartet of some of Westmont's last-ever NAIA athletes, and first-ever NCAA Warriors. Seniors Taylor Distelberg, Kaili Hashimoto, and Sara Krueger were celebrated alongside junior setter Alexa Shiner, who is graduating a year early in May.
 
Not only did the Warriors celebrate off the court, but on the court, Krueger shined with 12 kills and an attack percentage of .393. Distelberg added in five more kills of her own to go along with three aces, while Hashimoto recorded six digs, and Shiner led the team with 17 assists.
 
"Sara was a standout tonight," assured McGolpin. "Both attacking and blocking, she was on it. She's been pretty unstoppable this whole year. I'm really proud of how all the seniors played. Kaili Hashimoto came in and did a nice job serving some tough balls.
 
"Taylor got a few big blocks, and then Alexa Shiner always does a great job for us. It was a great night."
 
Westmont opened the match on a 5-0 run, and carried some early momentum to a lopsided 19-8 lead. However, things did get a bit dicey later on, when McGolpin was forced to call timeout in a 21-18 game. Fortunately for McGolpin, the Warriors followed up the stoppage with a late surge to close out the set, with a kill from Audrey Hyde making it a 25-21 final.
 
In the second set it was Menlo's turn for an early run, when the Oaks rattled off four consecutive points to begin the game. Menlo late 9-7 minutes later, but a pair of kills from Krueger bookended a four-point swing that put the Warriors back out in front 11-7. The two sides continued to go back and forth throughout, all the way to a tie at 21. Following the stalemate, Westmont scored four of the set's final five points, with a kill from Alexis Dennick putting Westmont up 2-0 with a 25-22 win.
 
Westmont was forced to play from behind later on in set three, when Menlo led 17-13 part way through. Then, a kill from Distelberg started a 7-1 run that ended with one of the senior's three aces (20-18). Menlo briefly reclaimed the lead at 21-20, and later on tied it at 23. Then, kills from Krueger and Valerie Coward sent the crowd home happy with a 25-23 win, and 3-0 sweep.
 
Westmont returns to action immediately on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m., when the Warriors host Academy of Art inside Murchison Gym. Links to tickets and live coverage are available on the Westmont Athletics website.