A day after posting wins over Carroll (Mont.) and Montana Tech, Westmont’s women’s volleyball team earned a 3-1 win over No. 24 Westminster (Utah) and suffered a 3-1 defeat to Great Falls (Mont.) at the Crowne Plaza Volleyball Festival hosted by Concordia in Irvine.
In the first match against Westminster (0-6), junior right side hitter Stephanie Dunn and junior outside hitter Beth Widicus posted 11 kills each to lead the Warriors (5-3) offensively. Dunn posted a .320 attack percentage. Junior middle blocker Katey Lowry added nine more kills while freshman Sami Miller and senior Katie Sharp added seven more. Miller notched a .545 attack percentage.
Defensively, Erin Dohm, a junior from SBCC and Dos Pueblos High, and sophomore Anna Nyhoff each had 17 serve receptions as did Widicus. Dohm added 21 digs while Widicus had 17.
The Warriors jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the first set, but Westminster battled back to tie the set at 16. After a service error by the Griffins made the score 22-20, Jenise DeBie stepped to the service line and the Warriors closed out the set with kills by Sharp, Dunn and Widicus, posting a 25-20 victory.
The Griffins rebounded in the second set with a 25-23 win. The third set appeared to also be heading for a photo finish but with the score tied at 12 points, the Warriors went on a 13-5 run that included three kills by Miller and two by Nyoff.
After winning the third set 25-17, the Warriors went on to take the match in the fourth set, 25-22. Lowry made four of five kill attempts in the final frame while Widicus also connected for four kills.
In the second match against Great Falls, the Warriors battled to a 28-26 win in the first set, only to lose the next three 25-18, 25-23, 25-22. Sophomore Alison Sharp led the Warriors with 12 kills and a .296 attack percentage.
The Warriors will be back in action Friday with the Westmont Volleyball Invitational, which will include Cal Baptist, Dominican and San Francisco State. The Warriors will host Dominican at 1 p.m. Friday and then take on San Francisco State at 3:30 p.m. Dominican and San Francisco State will play each other at 6 p.m. On Saturday, Cal Baptist will play Dominican at 11 a.m. followed by Cal Baptist and San Francisco State at 2 p.m.
Ron Smith is Westmont‘s sports information director.