Surviving a 24-19 deficit in the fourth set, No. 14 Westmont Volleyball (20-5) posted a 3-1 (25-14, 25-17, 19-25, 27-25) win over No. 16 Cal State San Marcos (18-11) on Tuesday night in Escondido.
“We were playing very well in the first two games,” said Westmont head coach Patti Cook. “(San Marcos) made a change in their line up for the third set. We weren’t matching up as well with the team they put in against us. A couple of hitters weren’t quite as easy to read and the balls were dropping that normally wouldn’t because we were caught off-guard by the different offense.
“We started to get into our groove in the fourth set,” continued Cook, But our players let the third game dictate how they were playing in the fourth set. The team as a whole was not playing as aggressive. I called a late timeout. I probably should have called it earlier, but I called it a 24-19. After a few choice words, the players went back on the court fired up and played all out.”
Facing five straight set-points, the Warriors certainly responded. Senior setter Candice Adema dumped the ball over the net to make it a 24-20 score. With Tessa Martin serving, two attack errors by the Cougars advanced the score to 24-22 prompting San Marcos to call a timeout.
After the timeout, Martin returned to the service line and put the ball in play. Madison Serrano connected for a kill before another attack error by the Cougars tied the score at 24-all.
A kill by San Marcos’ Taylor DeGraff gave the Cougars’ its sixth set point, but Serrano responded with another kill to tie the match at 25.
“Chelsea Dornseif went back to serve for us at 25-25 and was clutch with her serve,” said Cook. “She did exactly what we needed her to do with a nice tough serve.”
Dornseif recorded an ace on her first serve to give Westmont match-point and then served again. That is when Serrano delivered her third kill in six serves to clinch the match for the Warriors.
“It was (libero) Kristen Schroeder’s birthday today and she did a great job leading our defense in the backcourt around a very solid block tonight,” reported Cook. “Both of our middles (Ciara Turner and Alexandria Wilson) were closing to the pins well and it showed with our nine blocks tonight.
“Kelli Ching had an outstanding night. She was playing off the hands of our block really well. She wouldn’t let things drop without putting her body on the floor. She got some really incredible saves.”
Westmont returns to Golden State Athletic Conference play on Saturday when they host Arizona Christian at Murchison Gymnasium at three o’clock.
