Twenty-fourth ranked Westmont volleyball suffered a disappointing loss to #25 Vanguard on Saturday night in Costa Mesa. The Warriors were swept by the Lions 25-20, 25-23, 25-19. As a result, Westmont falls too 11-7 overall and 2-6 in Golden State Athletic Conference play. Vanguard improved to 11-6 and 5-3 in the GSAC.
Westmont was led offensively by Alison Sharp who recorded eight kills and an attack percentage of .280. Sami Miller (.385 attack percentage) and Stephanie Dunn added seven kills each while Katelyn Lowry posted six. The Lions had three hitters in double-figures led by Heather DeJongh with 14.
The Warriors were playing catch-up all night, falling behind early in each of the three sets. The Warriors managed to tie the Lions at 12-all in the second set and stayed close until the score reached 17-16. That’s when Vanguard reeled of four straight points to go up 21-16. The Warriors scored the next four points on a kill by Lowry and three Lion attack errors to pull to within one at 21-20.
A kill by Vanguard’s Jamie Heenan (10 kills) and a block by DeJongh gave the Lions a 23-20 advantage. Westmont responded with a kill by Sharp and a service ace by Lowry to make the score 23-22. Another kill by Heenan gave the Lions match point before Sharp struck again to make it 24-23. But Meghan Walsh closed out the set with one of her three kills on the night.
Westmont will play at home twice next week. On Tuesday, the Warriors will host The Master’s (9-8, 1-6 GSAC) at seven o’clock in Murchison Gymnasium. Then on Saturday afternoon, Westmont will host top-ranked Fresno Pacific (17-0, 7-0 GSAC) in a two o’clock match.
