Westmont’s volleyball team is coming home from Iowa with its unbeaten record intact.
The NAIA second-ranked Warriors completed a four-match trip with four wins, improving their record to 23-0. On Saturday, they defeated Concordia (Neb.) and Northwestern (Iowa) on Saturday.
Westmont defeated Concordia 25-21, 22-25, 25-22, 25-15 and Northwestern 25-14, 25-14, 23-25, 25-21.
“Both Northwestern and Concordia were really strong teams today,” Westmont coach Patti Cook. “They definitely challenged us, along with Dordt (Iowa) yesterday. Those three matches were everything we had hoped for and more. We came out here to get challenged and they definitely pushed us to play at a very high level.”
In the match against Concordia (13-14), Westmont posted a .284 attack percentage and held the Bulldogs to .193. Taylor Beckman and Libby Dahlberg led the way with 15 and 14 kills, respectively. Jessica McCann and Sam Neely each added nine.
Against Northwestern (11-13), Westmont hit .174 but held the Red Raiders to .070. Beckman produced 12 kills while Dahlberg and Neely each added 10. Cassidy Rea came up with eight more kills to add to the Warriors’ effort.
“It was a great learning trip for us – learning how we respond when we travel a long distance, how we respond when we play teams at a high level with tall players and how we respond when we get down a set. This was a huge confidence booster,” said Cook.
The Warriors return to campus as the only undefeated team in the NAIA and head into the second round of GSAC play.
“I told the team when we came out here that we needed to put our GSAC season on the shelf and focus on what we were going to do in the postseason,” said Cook. “Now that we are coming back, we will take the desire to win a GSAC Championship back off the shelf. That has been a huge motivating factor for us in our GSAC games.”
The Warriors, who have not won a GSAC Championship since 1993, are 8-0 in the GSAC standings and currently hold a two-game lead over 16 Biola (15-7, 6-2) and The Master’s (14-9, 6-2).