After a hard fought battle in the first set, Westmont Volleyball struggled to keep up with the Eagles of Biola and fell to the NAIA’s number ten team in straight sets 29-27, 25-16, 25-18. The Warriors limited the Eagles to just a .179 attack percentage but managed to hit only .117 themselves.
“We were really playing well in the first set,” said Westmont Head Coach Jim Smoot. “It was reminiscent of how well we were playing down at Point Loma. When Biola came back, I think it took the wind out of our sails. We just couldn’t do much after that.”
Tied at nine, the Warriors produced a 10-4 run to take a six point lead (19-13). Westmont recorded kills from five different players during the surge, including two from senior outside hitter Beth Widicus (7 kills). But the Eagles turned the tables on the Warriors with a 5-1 run to pull within two points (20-18).
Westmont stretched the lead to 23-19 before Biola scored five in a row to threaten with a 24-23 set point. A Widicus kill momentarily saved the Warriors in the first set but an attack error by Widicus put the Warriors in peril again. An attack error on Biola’s side of the net made the score 25-all before Stephanie Dunn (5 kills, 4 blocks) and Kate Barton (2 kills, 4 blocks) teamed up to block an attack by Biola’s Kim Russell (12 points, 3 blocks), giving Westmont set point at 26-25.
Russell did not miss on her next attack, tying that game at 26. Widicus gave the Warriors their second set point with another kill, but Russell struck again and the game was tied at 27. A kill from Christian Woodruff gave Biola its third set point and this time the Eagles took advantage. Russell and Kelsey Christoferson (8 kills, 3 blocks) closed the roof on attack attempt by Dunn to give the first set to Biola.
“Biola was obviously camping on Katey Lowry and Steph Dunn,” said Smoot. “They had just 12 kills between the two of them. It’s tough to go against a team that is really good, has strong blockers and knows who to camp out on. Steph and Katey did okay in that situation.”
The Eagles took control early in the second set, jumping out to a 12-4 lead. Westmont did not get closer than five points in the rest of the match. The third set was not much better as the Eagles pulled ahead 9-2 and never looked back.
“My team knew what was riding on this match,” said Smoot. “We had to beat them to get a bid to the nationals. We just didn’t get it done. We weren’t doing well with ball control. We weren’t even getting close to being able to run our offense. Even on down balls that weren’t hit hard, we were just popping them up and not getting close to where we could feed the middle.”
Jenise DeBie led the Warriors with eight kills. Candace Adema tallied 18 assists while Kailee Blair added another 14. Erin Dohm recorded 19 digs and Stacey Braceros contributed 16 more.
After the game Westmont honored its six seniors: Katey Lowry, Stephanie Dunn, Erin Dohm, Beth Widicus, Jenise DeBie and Anna Nyhoff. The crowd of 243 roared its appreciation for the contributions that each have made to Warrior volleyball.
“We had a great crowd tonight,” said Smoot, “As a coaching staff we were really appreciative that they stayed after the game and for the great recognition they showed our seniors.”
