Westmont got a little bit of revenge on Thursday at the Biola Summer Slam volleyball tournament. The Warriors took on sixth-ranked College of Idaho (0-1) and walked away with a four-set victory (16-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-14).
Last November, the ‘Yotes defeated Westmont 3-1 in pool play at the NAIA National Tournament.
“I was nervous about how we would do against College of Idaho and did not feel confident of a win,” acknowledged Westmont head coach Patti Cook. “But overall, I was very pleased with our performance against them. We took care of business and handled our side of the net very well.”
Senior Marie Trudelle stepped up big in the first game, tallying 12 kills with only one attack error to post a .458 attack percentage. Ciara Turner added nine more kills on .444 hitting while Madison Serrano posted another eight kills. Heidi Thompson tallied 22 assists for the Warriors and Alexa Nestlerode recorded 11.
Too many attack errors hurt Westmont in the first set against Idaho. The Warriors posted an even number of kills and errors, resulting in a .000 team attack percentage for the first set.
“We moved a couple of players around after the first set to see who would catch fire,” reported Cook. “Marie was one of those players. She is a steady player who keeps the ball in play and made some really big plays for us when it counted.”
Westmont (3-0) turned things around in the second set, improving its attack percentage to .231 and holding the ‘Yotes to a .154 percentage while forcing Idaho into nine errors. The trend continued downward for the Idaho as Westmont recorded 11 blocks in the match to frustrate ‘Yotes hitters.
“Our distribution on attacks was nice and spread,” noted Cook. “Madison (Serrano) got 50 attempts in the Tuesday’s match (against Davenport) and about 25 against Idaho. That is more like we want it to be so that we have a more unpredictable attack. What enables good distribution is having good ball control and passing well.”
In the evening game, Westmont posted a straight-sets victory over Southern Oregon (0-2) with scores of 28-26, 25-21, 25-15. Serrano was the Warriors’ top scorer with 16 kills and a .429 attack percentage. Freshman Jessica McCann added another 13 kills with a .312 attack percentage. Nestlerode set for 20 assists and Thompson contributed another 18.
“Southern Oregon didn’t have as many arms and were a little more predictable in their distribution,” assessed Cook. “We also picked up on tendencies by their players on the pins. That allowed us to adjust our block accordingly.”
