November 4, 2023

WU Wins in Four, Cal Pac Championships Next

Video Box Score
By Francisco Claudio
 
The Westcliff women's volleyball team has had an incredible journey this season and it all came together in the biggest match of their season on Thursday night.
 
The Warriors hosted the Providence Christian Sea Beggars on senior day and would end up winning in four electrifying sets: 25-15, 18-25, 25-18, 26-24.
 
From the beginning of the season, everyone who saw this team play talked about how it was made up of fighters.
 
So even when the Warriors' season started slower than they would have liked, there was belief that it would turn around because of the type of athletes on the team.
 
Led by first-year coach at Westcliff, Andy Cole, and his team knew it was going to be an uphill battle the whole season, and they surely turned it around in the second half of it.
 
With the win over Providence Christian, Westcliff has now won six of their last seven matches and more importantly secured the final remaining spot into the Cal Pac Championships that begin next week.
 
So yeah, the game against the Sea Beggars was really important, and everyone on the Warriors squad stepped up and met the challenge head-on.
 
Senior Brooke Scheidle led the way with a game-high 13 kills, with eight digs, and five blocks.
 
Dana Manu, another senior, helped with 12 kills and 18 digs.
 
Samantha Lister who has just been an anchor for this team contributed with 11 kills, 19 assists, and nine digs.
 
Michelle Do, also a senior, had 24 assists and 12 digs.
 
Warriors' defensive pillar, Ava Himstreet, recorded a game-high 36 digs and 6 assists.
 
"A fantastic start," said head coach Cole of the Warriors taking the first set comfortably. "We acknowledged a response would happen yet allowed it to happen. We hope our competition has the thoughts to respond, but we can be in control of how that response comes out of the successive with our serve.  
 
"That complacency can feel great and we needed to and did excel starting about midway through the second set. To compile such individual output and also get the win is really great bonding together as a team. This high-stakes match showed a lot of determination the team has had all season long."
 
Indeed, the Warriors have been showing this potential all season long, through all the ups and downs.
 
Westcliff has one last match remaining of the regular season at UAV on Saturday, November 4th, at 5PM.
 
After that, it's time to start getting ready for the Cal Pac Championships that will take place next week.
 
The first match is set for Thursday, November 9th.
 
All updates will be posted on our athletics page: westcliffathletics.com
 
And on our Instagram account: westcliffu_athletics