No. 11 Westmont (25-9) swept St. Francis (Ill.) (37-8), 25-19, 25-18 and 25-14, for its first win at the NAIA National Volleyball Tournament on Wednesday. The Warriors used a solid team effort to post an attack percentage of .305 while committing just 12 hitting errors.
“The team played a lot more relaxed after getting a game under our belt yesterday,” said Westmont head coach Patti Cook. “We had a lot of people play well for us including freshman Sydney Striff who did well for us in the front row. Sydney has a live arm and we wanted to get her cracking before we came up against a big block tomorrow.”
Striff and sophomore outside hitter Madison Serrano led the team with 12 kills each. Striff posted a hitting percentage of .321 while Serrano’s hitting percentage was .333. Serrano also contributed 15 digs.
“Madison was playing very steady all the way around – in the front row and in the back row,” said Cook. “(Kristin) Schroeder had an unbelievable game with 12 digs in the first set. Candice (Adema) and Ciara (Turner) also did a great job. Even the bench was enthusiastic and involved in the plays. It was a team effort.”
Schroeder tallied 26 digs for the match while Adema recorded 40 assists. Turner notched 11 digs with an attack percentage of .360.
The Warriors next take on No. 2 Texas at Brownsville (UTB) in their final game of Pool B. In order to advance to the single elimination bracket, the Warriors will need to hand the Scorpions their second loss of the season. UTB narrowly defeated College of Idaho in five sets.
