Malinda Reese recorded 21 digs in Saturday’s volleyball match against #1 Fresno Pacific (23-0, 14-0) and as a result, established a new Westmont record for digs in a single season. With six matches remaining in the regular season, Reese has accumulated 638 digs, 16 more than the previous record which she set during the 2005 season. The Warriors (11-12, 4-10) lost to Fresno Pacific in three games (22-30, 23-30, 17-30).

“Fresno Pacific is obviously an outstanding team,” said head coach Jim Smoot, “they could play with most teams in the country. When playing a team like this it doesn’t help that our highest percentage hitter was ill. We moved Jenise DeBie to the middle where she hasn’t played for a month or two. She did a great job and the entire team played very hard.”

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Sophomore middle blocker Katey Lowry notched 12 kills (.526 attack percentage) and junior outside hitter Laura Trudelle added another 11 (.281 attack percentage) as Westmont Volleyball (11-11, 4-9) avenged an previous loss by sweeping The Master’s in three games (31-29, 30-26, 30-24) at Murchison Gymnasium on Tuesday evening.

“Master’s plays a steady game which is mostly error free,” said head coach Jim Smoot, “so if you don’t remain patient, you make errors and they can beat you. That is what happened when we played them at their place. What I was most pleased about in tonight’s game was that as the match went on we played more our style and with more enthusiasm.”

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Westmont Volleyball (10-11, 3-9) lost a critical match-up in Costa Mesa on Saturday afternoon, falling to #15 Vanguard (7-10, 5-7). Vanguard won in three games by scores of 30-25, 30-25 and 30-22.

“Our hitting was too predictable,” said head coach Jim Smoot. “We made it too easy for them to play offense.”

Had the Warriors won, the two teams would have been in a tie for seventh place in the Golden State Athletic Conference. Seven teams from the conference are likely to qualify for post-season play in the upcoming NAIA Region II Tournament. With the loss, Westmont falls two games behind Vanguard and #10 Point Loma Nazarene who are tied for sixth place with conference records of 5-7.

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Junior Laura Trudelle, of Portola Valley, has been named the Golden State Athletic Conference and NAIA Region II Volleyball Player of the Week for the week ending October 7, 2007. Trudelle led the Warriors to two wins last week, including a five-game upset of #8 Point Loma Nazarene on Saturday.

“Laura hit .436 against the number eight team in the nation,” said Westmont head coach Jim Smoot, “that is a pretty good indication of how well she is playing right now.”

Trudelle notched 34 kills during the week, including 20 against Point Loma Nazarene, and posted a two-match attack percentage of .389. She also recorded 26 serve receptions with just one error and 14 digs.

Laura Trudelle and Allison Sharp combined for 41 kills to lead Westmont Volleyball to a five-game (30-27, 19-30, 32-30, 20-30, 15-9) upset victory over #8 Point Loma Nazarene (12-7, 4-6) in Murchison Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon. Westmont tallied 74 of its 116 points off of kills, the largest number of kills recorded in a single game by the Warriors since September of 2005. Nine more points came off Warrior blocks and six were the result of service aces. The balance of 27 points resulted from Sea Lion errors.

“It’s a great feeling to win three in a row,” said head coach Jim Smoot, “and even more of a great feeling to beat a top team like Point Loma.”

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Sophomore Katey Lowry produced 16 kills and junior Laura Trudelle added 14 more as Westmont Volleyball picked up their second conference win in a row on Friday. Westmont (9-9, 2-7) defeated San Diego Christian (6-15, 0-10) in three games by scores of 30-26, 30-26, 30-19.

“I thought we weren’t quite into it mentally at the beginning,” acknowledged head coach Jim Smoot. “San Diego Christian came at us strong. They did a great job of digging, especially in the first two games. I was really pleased with our third game play. Before the third game we talked about how many unforced errors we had and I thought we cleaned it up. Even though it was our lowest hitting percentage game I thought our positioning and ball control was much stronger.

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Five Warriors posted attack percentages of .333 or more as Westmont Volleyball (8-9, 1-7) swept the Royals of Hope International (3-8, 1-7) in three games on Saturday (30-23, 30-25, 30-26) in a Golden State Athletic Conference match. Senior Laura Trudelle led the Warriors with 13 kills and a .407 attack percentage.

“It was so fun,” said Trudelle of the game. “We came together today and we were ready for our first win (in conference). We were focused and knew what we had to do. We had valleys, but we bounced back and maintained a good game.”

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Freshman outside hitter Alison Sharp tallied 17 kills and a .213 attack percentage, but Westmont Volleyball couldn’t over come the ninth ranked team in the NAIA, falling to Azusa Pacific (10-4, 3-3 GSAC) in four games (30-20, 27-30, 30-24, 30-21). Sharp started the game due to an injury to Stephanie Dunn who was out of commission for today’s game but hopes to return for the Warrior’s next match. Laura Trudelle moved from the left side to take Dunn’s place on the right and Sharp moved into Trudelle’s spot on the left.

“I thought we played very well overall,” said head coach Jim Smoot, “but once again we were facing a top-ten team in the GSAC. I think we are improving and getting better. I’m proud of how the team is staying positive and not getting down on themselves even though we have had a rough streak. If we can maintain that attitude and work on our consistency, we can show great improvement. Maybe in the second half we can do some damage.”

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