Freshman middle blocker Sami Miller pounded 21 kills and posted a .559 attack percentage as Westmont Volleyball defeated the visiting Royals of Hope International (4-10, 1-7 GSAC) by a score of 3-1 (25-23, 25-21, 21-25, 25-15) on Saturday night at Murchison Gymnasium. Fellow middle blocker Katie Sharp posted a .474 attack percentage with 10 kills, giving the Warriors a .528 attack percentage from the middle of the court.

“Sami and Katie did very well in the middle,” noted head coach Jim Smoot. “We tried to go to the middle a lot. Hope (International) adjusted and was committing their left blocker as well as their middle blocker to our middle attack. On their own, our players decided to push, which is like (running) a one but pushed away a little, that helped the hitters find a gap.”

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Westmont Volleyball jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first set against third-ranked Concordia (17-2, 6-1 GSAC) and used the momentum to post a 25-22 victory. But the Eagles came back strong and took the next three sets 25-15, 25-16, 25-16 to claim the win in the Golden State Athletic Conference match at Murchison Gymnasium. Westmont fell to 7-11 overall and 1-6 in conference play.

“I thought we played really well in the first set,” said Westmont head coach Jim Smoot. “We were very aggressive and we served tough. After that we got a little frantic and got ahead of ourselves. But I’m so proud of how the players fought tonight.”

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After tying the match at one set each, Westmont Volleyball (7-10, 1-5 GSAC) experienced an offensive power shortage Saturday night at #16 Azusa Pacific (13-5, 3-3 GSAC), falling to the Cougars 3-1 (25-21, 16-25, 25-14, 25-20). The Warriors, who had an attack percentage of .387 in the second set, managed just four kills in the third set and posted an attack average of -.192.

Westmont utilized a 15-6 run to go 22-13 over the Cougars before cruising to a second set victory. But in the third set, Westmont committed 18 errors (hitting, service and serve reception), and the Cougars took command of the match 2-1.

Alison Sharp connected for 14 kills and tallied 11 digs, but it wasn’t enough to keep the second-ranked Lancers of California Baptist (15-1, 4-1) from sweeping the Westmont Warriors (25-18, 25-23, 25-19) in Riverside on Tuesday evening. With the loss, Westmont falls to 1-4 in conference play and 7-9 overall.

“We need to realize how close we are to competing with the top ranked teams,” said head coach Jim Smoot. “We need to work on our consistency.”

In the first set, the Lancers jumped out to a 10-5 lead and did not allow the Warriors to get closer than three points. The second set proved to be much closer with neither team leading by more than two at any point in the set. Alison Sharp and Samantha Miller (8 kills) stepped up to record all but two of the Warriors 12 kills.

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Sophomore Alison Sharp tallied nine kills, nine digs and two service aces while posting an attack percentage of .529 to help lead Westmont Volleyball to a 3-0 win over The Master’s at Murchison Gymnasium on Tuesday evening. Freshman Sami Miller added nine more kills while Beth Widicus and Stephanie Dunn contributed seven apiece as the Warriors improved their overall record to 7-6 and their Golden State Athletic Conference record to 1-2.

“I think you saw tonight a different team attitude and I really was impressed with the way they came out ready to play and were aggressive,” said head coach Jim Smoot. “Alison had nine kills in 17 attempts with no errors. She only had two aces on the stat sheet but that doesn’t tell the story. She hammered so many serves that took The Master’s out of there offense. Instead of trying to hit a specific zone, I encouraged the team to go back there and hammer the serves to initiate aggressiveness from the outset.

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It turned out to be a disappointing trip to La Mirada for Westmont Volleyball. The Warriors dropped their second straight Golden State Athletic Conference game to the #4 Eagles of Biola (12-0, 2-0 GSAC) on Saturday night at Chase Gymnasium. Westmont, who fell to 6-6 on the year and 0-2 in conference play, lost in straight sets 25-7, 25-18, 25-22.

The first set was all Eagles as Biola recorded 16 kills on 24 attempts for a .625 team attack percentage. The Warriors turned things around at the start of the second set, jumping out to a 7-2 advantage. Anna Nyhoff got things started for the Warriors with a kill followed by a service ace. Laura Trudelle added a couple of kills during the early going.

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Westmont Volleyball took to the floor at Vanguard in Costa Mesa for the opening Golden State Athletic Conference match of the season. Missing from the lineup was senior middle blocker Katelyn Lowry who injured her knee in warm-ups last Friday against San Francisco State. Head coach Jim Smoot called on freshman Sami Miller to take her place in the starting rotation, and Miller responded by recording 11 kills out of 14 attempts with only one error - a .714 attack percentage. Miller also tallied four block assists.

However, the Warriors could not muster enough firepower to tame the thirteenth ranked Lions (6-0, 1-0 GSAC) who won in straight sets 25-19, 25-19, 26-24. With the loss, Westmont fell to a 6-5 overall record.

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After battling back from a two-set-to-none deficit against the host Westmont Warriors (6-4) in match two of the Westmont Volleyball Invitational, San Francisco State (5-1) swept Dominican (0-2) to claim their second win of the day. Westmont posted a 3-0 win over Dominican in the first match of the day.

Beth Widicus and Sami Miller led the Warriors offensively against Dominican with eight kills each. Miller posted a .583 attack percentage, connecting on eight of 12 attempts with just one error. Lorel Grande led the Penguins with seven kills and a .316 attack percentage.

The first set proved to be close throughout, but with the Warriors up by one at 24-23, Beth Widicus put the ball on the floor to give Westmont a 25-23 win. The Warrior had a little bit easier of a time in the second set and led 24-16. But the Penguins scored the next six points, five on kills, before a kill by Westmont’s Jenise DeBie ended the set 25-22. In the third set, Westmont jumped out to an 11-1 lead and cruised to an easy 25-13 victory.

[Dominican-Westmont box scores]
[San Francisco State-Westmont box scores]
[Dominican-San Francisco State box scores]