Westmont Volleyball (19-4, 13-2 GSAC) returned the GSAC Championship crown to Santa Barbara on Friday night after a clean-sweep over the second-place Vanguard Lions (19-10, 9-6). With their season-high seven consecutive win, the Warriors clinched their seventh GSAC Championship in program history, and third under head coach Ruth McGolpin in her fourth year at the helm.
“Honestly, the game felt like it was in slow motion,” reflected a victorious McGolpin. “I really don’t have any words for it. It was like we were playing in slow motion but at a fast pace.
“The three things listed on our board today said that we wanted to ‘play fearless, have passion, and have fun’. We definitely displayed all three of those things tonight.”
Overall, the Warriors out-killed the Lions 41-28, while posting a team-wide attack percentage of .337. On the other side of things, Westmont held Vanguard to an attack percentage of .070.
“Our offense was unbelievable,” said McGolpin, “and our passing was so good, which allowed all of our attackers to be consistent, and fiery.”
Leading the way offensively for the Warriors was Phoebe Minch, who collected a game-high 12 kills. Minch also led the Warriors with 13 digs. Senior Lexi Malone collected nine kills on 12 attempts, leading to a .667 attack percentage, while Jessie Terlizzi added seven kills of her own.
“The outside hitters were standouts tonight,” noted McGolpin. “Phoebe hit outstanding, and Jessie was on fire. Jessie hit some outstanding shots, and smart shots, too. She had Vanguard on their toes the whole night. The middles were absolutely fantastic as well.”
Senior Keelyn Kistner collected a game-high 19 assists, while freshman Alexa Shiner recorded 15 of her own.
“I have to give a shout-out to our setters,” noted McGolpin. “They’re the ones who set the pace, and they’re the decision makers out there. They did a great job tonight.”
During the opening minutes of the game both sides were searching for footing, with neither looking as sharp as expected. Partway through, with Westmont leading 10-9, a kill from Taylor Distelberg followed by three consecutive Vanguard attacking errors forced the Lion to use their first timeout down 14-9.
From that point on, the Warriors were in control. The Lions called their final timeout after a kill from Alexis Dennick put the Warriors up 19-13, but the delays had no impact on the momentum-claiming Warriors.
Eventually, a block from Sara Krueger put the exclamation point on a tone-setting 25-17 win to open the night.
At the beginning of the second set, nothing could stop the Warriors, who sprinted to an 8-2 advantage before Vanguard’s first timeout. During the initial run, the Warriors collected four kills and were aided by the same number of Vanguard attacking errors.
Later on, with Westmont up 12-7, kills by Dennick, Malone, and Minch highlighted a five-point run that put the Warriors up 17-7 going into another Vanguard timeout. Minutes later, Westmont ended a one-sided 25-13 win with kills from Krueger and Distelberg followed by a Lions’ attacking error.
In the third and final set, the Lions hung with the Warriors as the game went into double-digits. Vanguard initially led 12-11, but a kill from Terlizzi and an ace from Kaili Hashimoto sparked a three-point run that eventually led to the conference title.
A kill from Terlizzi, an ace from Shiner, and another kill by Distelberg put the Warriors in the driver’s seat up 17-13 going into a Lions’ timeout. The Warriors continued their march, and minutes later, the crowd rose their feet with the Warriors up 24-17.
In the end, Krueger sent the Warriors and their fans into a frenzy by collecting the GSAC-clinching kill, ending the night with a 25-17 win and a three-set sweep. From there, the celebration was on.
“It’s been a very special start to the season,” smiled Malone, one of the leaders of the GSAC Champions. “Before we got on the court we had the goal of having fun, and we really brought that energy on the court tonight. Passion was another goal for us and you could see how fiery we were all game long.
“We are so excited, and it feels so good to be not even close to done yet.”
“We still have three more regular season games,” echoed a proud and focused McGolpin. “We want to win those and give ourselves a fighting chance to host an Opening Round. The postseason is right around the corner, but now we’re ready to get focused on tomorrow’s match.”
Jacob Norling is the sports information assistant at Westmont College.
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