SIOUX CITY, IOWA — Westmont Volleyball, ranked at number 11, opened pool play in the 2012 NAIA Volleyball National Tournament with a 3-1 (25-22, 25-16, 15-25, 25-17) loss to #14 College of Idaho (23-6) on Tuesday in Sioux City, Iowa.
“We are understandably disappointed because we aren’t content with just getting to nationals,” said Westmont head coach Patti Cook. “We want to do well while we are here.”
The biggest obstacle for the Warriors was the Lady Yotes’ presence at the net. Idaho posted 16 team blocks including six block assists by both 6-foot junior Liz Myers and 6-1 senior Torrey Hulsey.
“Their blocks were incredibly effective,” acknowledged Cook. “They are a good blocking team that had scouted us well and knew where we wanted to go. In this game today, we did not have the firepower to be able to go through the block and to be able to work around it. We thrive off of holes in the block and being able to have a deceptive offense. We weren’t able to do that today.”
Sophomore outside hitter Madison Serrano led the Warriors with 13 kills and added 14 digs and 27 server receptions. Junior middle blocker Ciara Turner added 12 kills and junior right side hitter Nichole Miller notched 11 kills. Senior setter Candice Adema had 49 assists while senior libero Kristin Schroeder produced 25 digs and 15 serve receptions.
Idaho was led offensively by Jessica Peacock with 13 kills and Myers with 11.
Westmont led 17-15 in the first set, but gave up the next six points to fall behind 21-17. The Warriors fought back to get within one (23-22) on a service ace by Schroeder. However, the Lady Yotes closed out the set on kills by Myers and Hulsey.
In the second set, Idaho jumped out to a 10-4 and the Warriors were never able to close the game.
“We never got into a rhythm and we never caught any breaks,” said Cook. “Usually things go a little be more our way because we scramble well. That team was good. They had some heavy arms and kept us out of our system. We got away from trying to win every contact – not every play, but every contact. We didn’t always focus on the little things.
“In the third set we played really well,” said Cook. “It was a combination of us putting our chins up a little bit and them relaxing a bit. We took advantage of that.”
Tied at three, Westmont scored the next three points fueled by two service aces from Tessa Martin (29 serve receptions). After a kill by Myers made it a 6-4 game, Serrano recorded a kill to give Westmont a 7-4 lead.
A Warrior service error made it 7-5 before Westmont reeled off three more points on kills by Alexandria Wilson (4 kills), Serrano and Miller.
Idaho closed to within one point at 13-12, but Westmont produced a 7-0 run to take control of the set. The run started with kills by Serrano and Turner before Martin recorded another ace. Serrano and Turner each notched another ace and then got a point on a Lady Yotes’ attack error. Serrano struck again with a kill to finish off the run.
In the fourth set, Idaho stretched an 8-6 lead into an 11-6 advantage. Westmont would get no closer than three points the rest of the set.
The Warriors will continue play in Pool B tomorrow at 1:15 p.m. PST when they take on the Fighting Saints (37-7) of the University of St. Francis (Ill.). The Fighting Saints lost to #2 Texas Brownville (27-1) in straight sets (25-14, 25-14, 25-23) in today’s other Pool B game.
