It was a match that certainly lived up to its billing. Playing in the NAIA Volleyball Match of the Week, #16 Westmont and #10 Vanguard gave about 400 fans plenty to cheer about with thunderous attacks, acrobatic digs, lengthy rallies and tremendous intensity. In the end, however, Vanguard (11-4, 4-0 GSAC) prevailed in the Golden State Athletic Conference match, defeating Westmont (11-4, 4-2) in four sets (25-22, 15-25, 25-21, 25-21).
“They had a strong offense and we couldn’t stop them,” said Westmont head coach Patty Cook. “Vanguard came out hitting really strongly. They dug a lot of balls and were serving tough. They did their job well, especially Charlotte (Heerlyn) who was having a fantastic night.”
Heerlyn led all hitters with 21 kills. She made just three errors while producing an attack percentage of .439.
From an offensive perspective, the Warriors matched Vanguard well. Westmont produced 55 kills to Vanguard’s 54. Vanguard produced a .214 attack percentage while Westmont hit .205.
The difference in the game, however, was at the net. Westmont managed just three blocks against Vanguard’s 11.
“We’re definitely going to working on our blocking in practice next week,” noted Cook.
Offensively, Westmont received a majority of its production from two underclassmen. Freshman middle blocker Libby Dahlberg led the Warriors in both kills (16) and attack percentage (.600), making just one attack error in 25 attempts.
“Libby is playing really well this season,” said the coach. “She has the ability to take over games. Her performance was really quite good, especially for a freshman. It shows a lot of maturity on her part.”
Complementing Dahlberg’s play in the middle of the net was sophomore Taylor Beckman on the outside. Beckman recorded 14 kills and a .270 attack percentage. She also had 20 digs and 30 serve receptions.
Helping to keep the Warriors in the game defensively was junior libero Kami Troesh who tallied 18 digs and 13 serve receptions.
“Kami had a very good night,” said Cook. “She made a lot of key plays, had a lot of good reads and kept us in a bunch of points with diving one-arm digs.”
Next up for the Warriors is their third top-25 opponent row. Tuesday, Westmont will travel to Santa Clarita to take on the #25 Mustangs of The Master’s College (11-7, 4-2). First serve is scheduled for seven o’clock.
