Westmont Women’s Volleyball, ranked at number 24 in the NAIA, defeated its second top-ten opponent in as many days, knocking off #7 Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 3-1 (25-16, 25-23, 22-25, 25-18) on the second day of the Biola/Red Lion Anaheim Summer Slam.
Later in the day, Westmont improved their record to 4-0 with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 24-18) victory over Midlands (Neb.)
“The team is looking great,” said Westmont head coach Patti Cook. “We looked a little more tired than yesterday. That is to be expected, especially since we played four matches in basically 24 hours. I think the players handled that really well. We played well as a team, today. Everyone had their moments, but they were comfortable with each other out on the court.”
Four players reached double figures in kills against Rocky Mountain (2-5) led by outside hitter Madison Serrano with 18 who also contributed 12 digs. Tessa Martin added another 17 kills as an outside hitter. Martin, who tallied 19 digs and six assists, posted a team-high attack percentage overage of .424. Middle blockers Ciara Turner and Alexandria Wilson pounded the floor with 13 and 12 kills respectively.
“I felt like we had a David versus Goliath mentality with Rocky Mountain,” said Cook. “Everyone on that team was huge. We do pretty well with that. We are a fast paced, smaller team. We had more ball control than they did and ultimately that is what won us the match.”
Despite the Warriors defeating two top-10 teams in about 16 hours, Cook was not concerned about her players overlooking Midland (3-2).
“After watching our team play yesterday and stay steady, I wasn’t concerned about a let-down,” said Cook. “Our players had not lost their focus. We may have lost it for a couple of points after something didn’t go our way, but what we didn’t do is lose our focus for long strings of play. That was the key in the fourth match. We were ready to battle back and we were in better condition.”
Serrano once again led the Warriors in kills with 10 and added nine digs. Right side hitter Heidi Thompson tallied nine kills while posting a .292 attack percentage. Turner put up eight kills in the second game and an impressive .538 attack percentage. Over the four-games of the tournament, Turner recorded a hitting percentage of .370.
Candice Adema continued to impress as the Warriors’ senior setter, tallying 48 assists against Rocky Mountain and 37 against Midland. Senior libero Kristin Schroeder recorded a combined 38 serve receptions and 39 digs in today’s games.
Westmont will return to action next weekend in the ASICS/Crown Plaza Labor Day Tournament at Concordia. On Friday, the Warriors will take on #3 Lee (Tenn.) and Illinois Tech. Then on Saturday, Westmont will face off against Westminster (Utah) and Menlo.
