By Jacob Norling
September 24, 2024
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Volleyball (5-4, 0-2 PacWest) could not solve the Azusa Pacific Cougars (7-3, 3-0 PacWest) on Tuesday night in Santa Barbara, when APU came into Murchison Gym and left with a sweep over the Warriors.
 
Westmont could never quite get their footing during the match, while APU rarely made mistakes of their own. An early example could be found in the first set, when the Warriors committed eight attacking errors. On the other side of the net, the Cougars committed only one.
 
During the first set, the Cougars' lopsided lead grew to as many as nine when the scoreboard read 21-12 in the visitor's favor. A late rally from the Warriors made the temperature in the room change ever so slightly, but the Cougars never looked rattled in an eventual 25-22 set win.
 
The second set teased a back-and-forth matchup to a 15-15 tie, but after a Westmont service error was followed up by a kill from APU's Sarah Wilson, the Warriors never again tied the set. Leading 21-20, the Cougars closed out the Warriors in set two with a 4-1 run capped off by a kill from Kendyl MacAskill (25-21).
 
Westmont played their most competitive brand of volleyball during the third set, coming close several times to finally having the Cougars on their heels. Instead, each time momentum built for the Warriors, the calm, cool, and collected Cougars regrouped.
 
Four kills from Valerie Coward off the bench highlighted a set where Westmont led by as many as three at 17-14. At that point, Nariah Prescott collected one of her team-leading 12 kills to force a timeout from Azusa Pacific. Out of the timeout, however, four consecutive kills from Azusa Pacific swung the game back in their favor, sucking the life out of Murchison Gym.
 
Following a 21-21 tie, the Cougars scored on a pair of kills, a Westmont attacking error, and a block from Anya Green to finish off the sweep 25-22.
 
"Obviously a tough one tonight," acknowledged Westmont head coach Ruth McGolpin. "Looking at some of the bright spots, Alexis Dennick, Sara Krueger, and Valerie had strong nights. Other than that, it was pretty dismal.
 
"We were a step off in everything we did, and APU was even-keeled and never made mistakes. They just let us make our own mistakes, and we certainly had a lot of those. Lesson learned, I suppose, as hopefully a reminder to the team of the level of volleyball we need to play in order to compete in this conference."
 
Westmont will regroup and take on the Vanguard Lions this Thursday night, when the Warriors host their old GSAC rivals at 7:00 p.m. in Santa Barbara.