Tenth-ranked Westmont Volleyball (17-5, 2-4 GSAC) lost its third match in a row on Tuesday evening, falling in four sets to Golden State Athletic Conference opponent Vanguard (11-9, 3-3) by scores of 25-20, 27-25, 23-25 and 25-21.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Vanguard, because they are a very good team and their talent showed up tonight,” said Westmont head coach Patti Cook. “But I think we were a little unprepared mentally for the battle that was going to have to take place.”
The Warriors struggled from the beginning, falling behind 12-6 in the first set and getting no closer than four points before Vanguard reached 25. While the Warriors had one more kill in the first set than the Lions (12-11), they also produced seven attack errors and fell victim to five service aces in the first set alone.
Westmont led much of the second set, but could not find a way to pull away by more than four points. An attack error by the Lions’ Ashli Bellinger (12 kills) gave the Warriors set-point, but Bellinger responded with a kill, followed by two from Jessica Neves (16 kills), to give Vanguard a two-set-to-none lead.
The Warriors led much of the third set as well, but Vanguard caught the Warriors at 16-all and eventually took a 23-21 advantage. After as service error by Neves made the score 22-23, Westmont’s Marie Trudelle served two service aces in a row, then produced another serve that gave the Lions few option for return. With the ball on the Warriors’ side of the net, Alexandria Wilson (7 kills) settled the matter with a kill to keep the Warriors in the match.
The fourth set saw the Lions return to an early lead (4-1) from which the Warriors never quite recovered.
“We have reached a plateau in our skill level,” said Cook about her team’s recent struggles. “We need to get better and to put in a little more work behind the scenes working on our skills. Our skill level as a unit has gone down. We played great as a team earlier in the season but we have started to play more as individuals. There are going to be times that we highlight an individual and they need to get better at what they are doing, but we also need to improve our skill level as a team.”
The Warriors will look to turnaround their season on Saturday, when they host Hope International (2-11, 0-5) at Murchison Gymnasium. First serve is at seven o’clock.
