Westmont Volleyball head coach Jim Smoot had his first chance to see how is team looked in game-time situation on Friday, and the veteran coach liked what he saw.
“I think this is a good indication of where we stand,” said Smoot about their performance in the Point Loma Nazarene Seaside Invitational. “From what I am seeing, we can hang with everyone in our conference – if we play up to our level.”
While several other Golden State Athletic Conference teams are participating in the event, the Warriors won’t actually see them on the other side of the net. Instead, Westmont matched up with two non-conference opponents today, and will play two more tomorrow.
At the end of day one, Westmont can claim a 2-0 season record. In the first match, Westmont defeated Savannah Art and Design (Ga.) 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-14) and then went on to sweep Huston-Tillotson of Texas (25-10, 25-12, 25-15).
“We were a little bit nervous at first,” said Smoot, “which I guess is to be expected in the first game of the season with so many freshmen. After we settled down, we played strong. (Assistant Coach) Patti (Cook) turned to me and said, ‘They’re not playing like freshman’.”
One encouraging sign in the first match was the play of two freshman middle blockers – Marie Trudelle and Ciara Turner. The two combined for 16 kills on 25 attempts and committed only one attack error for a .600 attack percentage.
“We were effective in our middle attack and that opened things up for our outside hitters,” reported Smoot.
On the outside was senior captain Alison Sharp who led the Warriors with 12 kills and added five digs to her effort.
“Alison played very steady,” reported Smoot. “She was very active, doing a lot of good things on the court and showing good leadership. I thought she played very well.”
In her first match as libero, sophomore Kristen Schroeder produced 15 digs; gaining the approval of her coach.
“Kristen played well,” said Smoot. “She was in the group that got nervous at first. But she became steady and dug a lot of balls. Her passing was one of the reasons we were able to run our offense with Marie and Ciara.”
In the second match, freshman Alexandria Wilson was inserted into the line-up as a middle blocker and led the team with 10 kills.
“It was nice to see Alexandria come in and really perform,” said Smoot. “She has been working hard to change some things that will make her very effective. When she stays behind the ball, she can hammer it.”
Freshman Kayta Goyich, who had six kills in the first game, added six more kills on eight attempts in the first set of the second match. Nichole Miller, playing in the second set, tallied five kills and posted a .571 attack percentage.
“Nicole hammered the ball,” reported Smoot. “She also put up some good blocks and her passing was very strong.”
Sophomore setter Candace Adema notched 34 assists in each match, giving her 11.3 assists per set.
Tomorrow, the Warriors will take on Missouri Baptist at 9:00 a.m. in the second day of the invitational and the face Robert Morris (Ill.) at 1:00 p.m. Missouri Baptist defeated The Master’s in straight sets (25-7, 25-16, 25-15) in the nine o’clock session but lost in straight sets to #2 Concordia (25-13, 25-19, 25-18). Robert Morris defeated Huston-Tillotson in three sets (25-14, 25-7, 25-6) and was to play San Diego Christian later on Friday night.
