Taking on the fourth-ranked team in the NAIA, Westmont volleyball had hopes of upsetting the Eagles of Concordia and making a case for inclusion in next month’s NAIA National Championship. While the match proved to be close, in the end the Eagles prevailed in four sets 25-18, 25-23, 23-25, 25-22.
The Golden State Athletic Conference in which Westmont competes is by far and away the strongest volleyball conference in the NAIA. Half of the teams in the top 14 are from the GSAC, including four teams in the top five. The last two years, only GSAC teams have competed in the semifinals and finals at the national tournament.
Westmont (13-11, 4-10 GSAC) believes a bid to this year’s national championship is still within reach.
“We’re doing a great job and we are getting close,” said Westmont Head Coach Jim Smoot, “but we have to maintain where we are and we have to beat a team ranked ahead of us to secure a spot in nationals. The team just has to have faith that it is going to happen.”
Tonight proved not to be the night.
Things did not start well for the Warriors in the first set as they quickly found themselves behind 4-0. The Warriors never quite caught up to the Eagles (23-4, 10-4 GSAC) who won the set by seven points. Westmont hit only .081 percent in the first set, committing five attack errors while producing only eight kills.
The second set was much better for the Warriors who started out on a 3-0 run. With Kristin Schroeder serving, the Warriors got kills from Beth Widicus (11 kills, .269 attack percentage) and Katelyn Lowry (7 kills). While the Warriors hit .303 in the second set, it wasn’t quite enough to keep the Eagles from taking a 2-0 advantage in the match.
“Down 2-0, our mindset was to shake off the last two games and start over again,” said Widicus. “Concordia is a good team and I think that we have shown that we can play with the top teams. It’s fun to challenge ourselves against a really good team.”
In the start of the third set, Concordia jumped out to a 6-0 lead forcing Smoot to call a timeout. The Warriors responded and tied the game at nine on a kill by Stephanie Dunn (10 kills, .333 attack percentage). Down 11-12, Widicus tied the game with a kill sending Stephanie Braceros to the service line.
Braceros started with an ace and served for four points, giving the Warriors a 16-12 advantage. Westmont maintained its four-point lead through 24-20. The Eagles closed to within one point at 24-23, but a block by Dunn and setter Candace Adema (26 assists, 5 kills) gave the Warriors the win in set three.
The fourth set proved to be close throughout. With the scored tied at 19-all, a kill by Stephanie Darnall (19 kills) gave the Eagles a one-point advantage. Amy Van Buren and Amber Ridens (20 kills) recorded a block and Ridens followed with a kill to stretch Concordia’s lead to 23-19. Lowry stopped the run with a kill which was followed by an Eagle attack error, making the score 23-21. After a timeout, another attack error drew the Warriors to within one point (23-22). But another kill be Ridens and another block by Ridens and Van Buren, ended both the set and the match.
“Our defense was really good tonight,” said Smoot after the game. “Erin Dohm had 21 digs and Kristen Schroeder had 13. I thought Kristen played very well. Alison (Sharp) also did a great job in digging.”
“The game felt very good,” said Widicus. “It felt like we had a lot of confidence out there on the court. We were super aggressive and didn’t let anything hit the floor tonight.”
Westmont has six matches left on the schedule, four of which are against teams above them in both the national rankings and in the GSAC standings.
“It’s a big challenge for us,” said Widicus of the upcoming matches. “We have Point Loma, Biola, Fresno Pacific and Vanguard above us. We are going to go out and give it our all. We’ve shown we can do it, we just need to be consistent throughout the whole game.”
The Warriors will be on the road next week. On Friday, they will take on #14 Point Loma Nazarene (16-7, 6-7 GSAC) in a seven o’clock game. Then on Saturday, Westmont will face San Diego Christian (10-15, 1-12 GSAC) at 3:00 p.m.
