Warriors Capture First Cal Pac Win in School History

by BRANDON PETERSEN

The Westcliff women's volleyball team put it all together Friday night at the Jordan Lawley Center in their best performance of the young season, a dominant sweep of Benedictine Mesa, 25-16, 25-16, 25-19.

Not only was it the first California Pacific Conference win in program history, but it was also the first conference win in school history.

"It feels really good," Westcliff head coach Kenny Ma said. "Yesterday was our first ever conference match and we wanted to take that win from Embry-Riddle – they're a team that has won it 10 times already.

"But we knew coming into tonight that Benedictine was good too, so it feels really good to pull out a win – and it's our first sweep of the year too."

After a convincing Game 1 win, Benedictine came out of the blocks on fire in the second, taking a commanding 7-1 lead.

Enter Maddie Shepston.

The Warriors' standout sophomore outside hitter stepped to the service stripe and fired off seven service-point winners in a row to take back the lead at 8-7.

The contest was never in doubt from that point on.

"Obviously, Maddie, for us she's been killer all season long," Ma said. "She's probably in double-digit kills like she is every night for us, so she was very good tonight."

Ma was right. Shepston finished with a game-high 12 kills to complement 11 digs and a pair of service aces.

Friday night's performance was perhaps senior libero Kenidi MacDonald's finest as well.

MacDonald finished with a game-high 18 digs, including some at consequential moments.

"She did a really great job for us," Ma said. "She got a lot of digs, but especially big digs when we needed her to. She kept the play going, so she was definitely an impact player tonight."

Sophia Tapia was brilliant on the backline as well, finishing with 13 digs.

At net, Michelle Do and Rylee Adair took care of their hitters, turning in 14 and 13 assists, respectively.

Cydnee Reimann was incredibly effective at net, tallying eight winners.

Elise Brown and Alexia Scott (five kills each) turned in some big-time, crowd-rousing winners, and Peyton Holst was able to collect some important kills as well.

Reimann and Holst had a pair of block-stuffs each.

Up next, the Warriors (3-5, 1-1) return to the Jordan Lawley Center at noon Saturday for a showdown with Park-Gilbert.

To contact Brandon Petersen, e-mail brandonpetersen@westcliff.edu.