By Kaci Mexico
November 18, 2016

Morgan Haskin scored 20 points and shot at 83 percent from the floor (10-12) to lead second ranked Westmont Women’s Basketball to a 91-55 victory over the Flames of Bethesda (1-7). With this win, the Warriors improve to a record of 4-0.

Along with Haskin, four other Warriors scored in the double-digits: Aysia Shellmire had 16 points, Lauren McCoy and Kayla Sato each had 13, and Cora Chan had 12. Defensively, Joy Krupa led both teams in rebounds with 12.

At the start of the game the Warriors immediately seized momentum when Chan hit a three-pointer 14 seconds into the game to ignite a 15-2 run that went halfway into the first quarter. Shellmire contributed a jump shot, assisted by Chan and two layups, assisted by Sato; Chan hit another three pointer, also assisted by Sato; and Aimee Brakken added on a three-pointer, assisted by Chan. By the end of the first quarter the Warriors lead 33-9.

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Hayden Anderson and Jerry Karczewski each scored 14 points to help #12 Westmont Men’s Basketball (4-0) defeated the Tigers of Occidental 82-69 on Thursday night in Los Angeles. Cory Blau and Sam Bentz added another 13 points while Sean Harman and Cory Blau contributed 12 points apiece.

The Warriors shot 61.2 percent from the floor (30 of 49), including 64.3 percent from three-point range (9 of 14). Perhaps more importantly, the Warriors held the Tigers to a 48.1 field goal percentage (26 of 54) and just 20.0 percent from beyond the arc (2 of 10).

“We did a really nice job defending their top scorers who combined 36 points in their last outing,” noted head coach John Moore. “We held them to just 17 points. Jay Miller scored 24 in their first game and we held him to five.”

After Miller started the scoring with a jumper, the Warriors scored the next 10 points to take a lead they would never relinquish. Blau scored first for the Warriors before Harmon laid the ball in the bucket off of a steal. A second-chance layup by McDonnell made it 6-2 before Moore pulled out all five starters and inserted a new line-up.

Westmont Volleyball, the top-ranked team in the NAIA with a record of 31-0, has received multiple honors from the Golden State Athletic Conference. In addition to five Warriors named to the All-GSAC team, Libby Dahlberg, Kami Troesh and Cassidy Rea were recognized with the conference’s annual player awards. The coaching staff also was honored with head coach Patti Cook named the GSAC Coach of the Year and Ruth McGolpin named the GSAC Assistant Coach of the Year.

Named to the All-GSAC Team were junior outside hitter Taylor Beckman of Lake Oswego, Oregon; junior middle blocker Mila Maricic of Harbor City; senior outside hitter Jessica McCann of Lemoore; Dahlberg who is a sophomore middle blocker from Sacramento and Troesh, a senior libero from Newport Beach.

Dahlberg was honored as the GSAC Player of the Year while Troesh was recognized as the GSAC Libero of the Year. Rea, a right-side hitter from Ventura, was named the GSAC Freshman of the Year.

Leading the GSAC in both attack percentage (.399) and blocks (1.25 per set), Dahlberg dominated play at the net during the season. Dahlberg connected for a team-high 287 kills (2.79 per set). Defensively she tallied 31 solo blocks and 98 block assists. Last season, Dahlberg was named the GSAC Freshman of the Year. This is the second time she has been named to the All-GSAC team.

By Kaci Mexico
November 14, 2016

The official Opening Round pairings for the 2016 NAIA Women’s Soccer National Championship have been announced and the #10 Warriors (15-3-2) are set to host the Carroll (Mont.) Saints (12-3-5) this coming Saturday.

The Saints earned an automatic bid into the NAIA Tournament after winning the Cascade Collegiate Conference Tournament in a 2-1 victory over Northwest University. Leading up to the championship game, they defeated both the College of Idaho and Rocky Mountain College in penalty kicks.

Their head coach is David Thorvilson and in his two years in this role he has lead the Saints to back-to-back conference championships. This past season, Carroll goal keeper Jamie Carter received her third consecutive CCC player of the year award. Carter had the best goals against average in the conference and eighth best in the NAIA at .729.

[NAIA Tournament Bracket]

As announced today by the NAIA National Office, Westmont Volleyball (31-0, 16-0 GSAC) has been named the number one seed in the upcoming NAIA National Tournament. The Warriors, who are also ranked number one in the Final NAIA Coaches Poll released today, have received an opening round bye.

Westmont will travel to Sioux City, Iowa to begin Pool Play on November 29. As the number one seed, Westmont will compete in Pool A. In addition to Westmont, Pool A is expected to include #16 Indiana Wesleyan (34-2) and #17 Columbia (26-11). The fourth team in the pool will be the lowest-seeded team who wins an Opening Round game.

Indiana Wesleyan won the Crossroads League Regular Season Championship with a record of 18-0 before claiming the Crossroads League Tournament Championship and gaining an automatic berth into Nationals. The Wildcats and Warriors did not share any common opponents.

Indiana Wesleyan’s only losses this season came to #4 Lindsey Wilson by a score of 3-0 (25-14, 25-15, 25-13) on August 27 and to #2 Viterbo by a score of 3-2 (25-23, 27-29, 25-16, 25-27, 15-12) on October 15. The Wildcats have won their last 10 matches.

After playing nearly even in a high-scoring first quarter, #2 Westmont Women’s Basketball (2-0) outscored La Sierra 64-29 in the rest of the game to claim an 89-53 victory over the Golden Eagles (2-2). Five Warriors scored in double figures including Lauren McCoy who recorded a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Cora Chan led the Warrior scoring with 19 points while going four of eight from three-point range. Aysia Shellmire scored 15 points and pulled down five rebounds despite playing just 15 minutes – the result of early foul trouble.

Kayla Sato tallied 14 points and six assists for the Warriors while Aimee Brakken contributed 12 points to the Warrior cause, all the result of three-pointers. Joy Kupa (four points) tallied 10 rebounds for Westmont.

Both teams held four-point advantages in the opening frame, but neither team could pull away from the other as the first 10 minutes came to an end with Westmont holding a 25-24 lead.

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Led by Cory Blau with 24 points, five Warriors scored in double figures as #12 Westmont Men’s Basketball (3-0) recorded a 106-84 victory over Embry-Riddle of Arizona (2-5) on Saturday at The Master’s Classic in Santa Clarita. Blau made eight of 11 field goal attempts including six of eight from three-point range.

In the process, Westmont set a new team record of 17 made three-pointers, going 17 of 34 from beyond the arc.

Sean McDonnell added 18 points to the Warriors’ point total and pulled down a game-high seven rebounds. Jerry Karczewski went four for seven from downtown on his way to 15 points and four assists. Sean Harman added 11 points while Max Hudgins tallied 10.

Embry-Riddle started off the game with a three-point bucket by Logan Skurdal and then jumped out to an early 10-5 lead on a jumper by Joseph Jewell. Westmont responded with a 10-0 run powered by five points by Blau (a three-pointer and a two-point jumper), a field goal by McDonnell and a trey by Karczewski.

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By Kaci Mexico
November 12, 2016

The Golden State Athletic Conference regular season co-champions, #20 Westmont and #25 Menlo (15-4-1) faced off in the Championship game of the GSAC Tournament. After the Oaks went up 2-1 in the 32nd minute, the Warriors’ attempts to equalize were thwarted, proving Menlo victorious.

The Oaks scored the first goal in the 12th minute when Erik Emanuelsson fed the ball to Ryan Onizuka at the penalty spot; Onizuka fired off a one-time shot into the right upper corner of the goal to give Menlo an early 1-0 lead.

Westmont evened the score when Matt Lariviere connected with Jeremiah Anderson in the 24th minute. The goal began when Lariviere quickly dribbled down the right sideline deep into the Oaks’ goal box and crossed the ball to Anderson at the far corner of the six-yard box. Anderson slotted the ball first-time into the bottom right side of the goal to tie up the game.

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