By: Hope Hensley
October 2, 2026
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Facing the conference's top team, the Westmont women's volleyball team battled throughout the night but ultimately fell in straight sets (15–25, 22–25, 16–25) to PacWest-leading Concordia University Irvine on Friday evening at Murchison Gymnasium.
The Golden Eagles (14-2, 7-0 PacWest) displayed a relentless offense, hitting .424 as a team behind 16 kills from Emma Wegleitner and 37 assists from setter Nevada Knowles.
"Concordia was a weapon offensively tonight," said Westmont Head Coach Ruth McGolpin. "Their outside hitters were amazing. We battled in all three sets, but they got the best of us with their attack at the net. Unfortunately, we just didn't have enough weapons to match them tonight, and we couldn't find a way to slow them down."
Junior opposite hitter Audrey Hyde continued her impressive week at the net, pacing the Warriors (6-9, 3-4 PacWest) with a team-high 11 kills while hitting an efficient .444 across 18 total attacks. Fellow middle blocker Camila Cornejo-Farmer added eight kills on a .333 hitting percentage, while junior outside hitter Ceanna O'Loughlin recorded eight kills.
Despite the setback, Friday marked a monumental milestone for Westmont setter Sierra McClure. Dishing out a team-high 15 assists on the night, McClure officially recorded her 1,000th career assist, becoming just the 18th player in Westmont program history to achieve the feat.
The Warriors put together their strongest push in the second set, battling back-and-forth through 11 tie scores and four lead changes before CUI narrowly edged out the 25–22 set victory.
"Our defense struggled at times tonight, but a lot of that was a credit to Concordia," McGolpin noted. "They hit the ball hard, didn't make errors, and capitalized on key plays. Still, I'm proud of our group's effort. Coming off a big win on Wednesday against Biola, we played a very tough opponent tonight, and there's a reason CUI is sitting at the top of the conference."
McClure and Lily Underwood guided the attack with 15 and 11 assists, respectively, while libero Rylee Elias and Underwood co-led the backline defense with eight digs each.
Looking ahead, Westmont takes the weekend off before embarking on a PacWest road trip to Hawaii next week.
"We just have to learn from this match and keep moving forward," McGolpin emphasized. "We have a full weekend off to recover, learn from our mistakes, and continue grinding as we prepare for tough competition in Hawaii. I still firmly believe this team is capable of doing great things, and we showed what we're capable of earlier this week."
Westmont returns to action on October 9 when they open their Hawaii road trip against Chaminade.
