March 28, 2024
Warriors End Season with Win Over HIU
By Francisco Claudio
The past few days have brought lots of smiles to the Westcliff women's beach volleyball team as they defended their Cal Pac championship and closed out their season with a win against Hope International on Thursday morning.
Per tradition, the Warriors celebrated their four seniors comprised of Ella Beck, Abbey Beckwith, Brooke Scheidle, and Chloe Johnson.
It wasn't an easy win, but Westcliff was able to down the Royals 3-2 as they finished the season with an overall record of 10-5 and 7-1 in the conference matches.
Westcliff's 2s of Sabrina Galassi and Diamonique Brogan got the first point in the straight sets 21-16, 21-10.
The 4s, Faith Webb and Chloe Johnson won easily as well 21-11. 21-16.
In the second round, the odd pairs took to the courts as Ava Himstreet and Amanda Ferreira won in straight sets 21-14, 21-17.
The win gave the Warriors the third and final point they needed to win the overall match against Hope.
Head coach Hannah Matt reflected on her first year as a coach at Westcliff and the importance of this journey: "This first year has been pretty special. Not just because it's my first year as head coach at Westcliff, but because of the culture and team we have, and the assistant coaches I get to work with. It's been such a joy getting to know all of them and being a part of their volleyball journey. It's been a lot of fun and I've learned a lot."
But Matt understands that there is still work to be done as the team will have a chance to play again at the West Regionals hosted by the university.
"I'm looking forward to seeing what we're made of," Matt said. "Now it's crunch time. We've been saying the last few weeks that we're on lap three of the mile, well now we're on lap four.
"We got to give it all we have and I'm excited to see what these girls can do when their backs against the wall and there is some pressure."
Westcliff will be hosting the event in Chula Vista with the aspirations of seeing their group go all the way and moving on to nationals.