After spending the first month of the 2016 season on the road, NAIA third-ranked Westmont Volleyball was excited to finally have a chance to play in front of its home fans this evening. However, the Warriors would have to wait even longer before taking on Arizona Christian (1-5, 0-3) in the Golden State Athletic Conference match on Friday night.
 
Unfortunately, the Firestorm’s bus blew a tire near Phoenix and was delayed arriving at the Westmont campus. When the game finally got underway an hour and twenty minutes late, Westmont was ready to go. In a 56-minute affair, the Warriors defeated the Firestorm in straight sets (25-13, 25-10, 25-9) to run its unbeaten streak to 14 matches.
 
“Today was a good solid team win,” offered Westmont head coach Patti Cook. “We came out strong. Arizona Christian came out strong as well. I was really impressed with their aggressiveness after dealing with a popped tire. They came out aggressive and strong, but we just played our game. When we play our game, we can overpower a lot of teams.”
 
The Warriors (14-0, 3-0 in GSAC) produced a .426 attack percentage by committing just four hitting errors over the three-set match while connecting on 33 of their 68 attacks. The Warriors’ offensive efficiency in the match ranks sixth best in program history.
 
Over the course of the season thus far, the Warriors are hitting at a .268 pace, which ranks second all-time in the Westmont record book.
 
“I commended our setters for a really nice job distributing the sets and making really good offensive decisions,” said Cook. “We had excellent passing too, led by Kami (Trash) and Taylor (Beckman). When their passing is on, our offense is a delight to watch.
 
Alexa Nestle rode’s placement of her sets was fantastic, in the middle especially, and her choices were really nice. I also want to commend Kami for digging up a storm per usual. Her passing was really solid. She has become an amazing passer.
 
Libby Dahlberg, Beckman and Mila Mariucci each produced seven kills while Jessica McCann added six more.