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Maddie Shepston
Maddie Shepston
Maddie Shepston
August 26, 2022

Westcliff's Season Opener the 5th Set Showdowns

Westcliff opened up the 2022 Season against the #23 SAGU Lions. SAGU took the 1st set. The Warriors took control of the following 2 sets. SAGU forced a 5th set showdown by winning the 4th set: 25-23. In the 5th set Westcliff tried their best to take a lead but SAGU found a way to keep their lead at arms length. #23 SAGU took the match 3-2. We talked to Coach Kenny Ma after the match on his thoughts of his teams performance. "The match was electric and one of the best ways to open up the season. Even though we lost, I'm glad that we played against one of the toughest opponent on our schedule and that we got to our first 5th set match out of the way early on."  One of the standout performances from the warriors goes to Freshman Fiona Moesching making her debut on the team. Moesching put in a dominant performance earning a match high 23 kills on a .463 hitting percentage. "Our freshman Fiona Moesching was easily the player of the match....It was her first collegiate match and was the match kills leader with 23 kills. It was incredible to see what she was able to do as a freshman." Coach Ma's closing remarks on the match, " Right now, we are just figuring our line ups and making adjustments to playing opponents that we know nothing about and have not seen them play. We need to continue to improve on our passing as one or two bad passes can make a huge difference in a game."

Video Box Score Box Score

By: SID Chase Dodge

Match 1: Westcliff vs #23 SAGU

Westcliff opened up the 2022 Season against the #23 SAGU Lions. The Warriors conceded the 1st set to SAGU. Westcliff took control of the following 2 sets. SAGU in the 4th set forced a 5th set showdown with 25-23 score.

In the 5th set Westcliff tried their best to take a lead but SAGU found a way to keep their lead at arms length. #23 SAGU took the match 3-2.

We talked to Coach Kenny Ma after the match on his thoughts of his teams performance. "The match was electric and one of the best ways to open up the season. Even though we lost, I'm glad that we played against one of the toughest opponent on our schedule and that we got to our first 5th set match out of the way early on." 

One of the standout performances from the warriors goes to Freshman Fiona Moesching making her debut on the team. Moesching put in a dominant performance earning a match high 23 kills on a .463 hitting percentage.

"Our freshman Fiona Moesching was easily the player of the match....It was her first collegiate match and was the match kills leader with 23 kills. It was incredible to see what she was able to do as a freshman."

Coach Ma's closing remarks on the match, " Right now, we are just figuring our line ups and making adjustments to playing opponents that we know nothing about and have not seen them play.

We need to continue to improve on our passing as one or two bad passes can make a huge difference in a game."

Match 2: Westcliff vs RV Loyola

The 2nd match for Westcliff of the day was against RV Loyola. This match was vastly different from the 1st. Westcliff was struggling in the first two sets.

The Warriors had a hard time finding momentum. In the 3rd set when the wolfpack of Loyola was 1 point away from victory. Westcliff battled back down 2 to take the 3rd set 26-24. The 4th set belonged to the Warriors.

Westcliff took a commanding lead out of the gate with their lead extending over 16. The Warriors easily take the 4th set 25-8. Westcliff faced another 5th set in only their 2nd match of the season.

Westcliff took an early lead but the wolfpack was right behind them. 4 straight points put Loyola in position to take the 5th set 15-11. 

Coache's Notes from Match 2:

"We have a great group of athletes who proved to us what it means to be a Warriors. It doesn't matter what's the score, it doesn't matter if we are losing, it doesn't if we are getting crushed… They battled to the very end. 
 
Losing the first set 13-25, and being able to completely flip after making some adjustments to lineups, strategy, and mindset is something I am very proud of our athletes for.
 
After each match, we listed several things that can help us overcome our losses in the 5th set.
 
One of the biggest factors that we want to be able to work through is our mindset. We ended up playing safe during pressured situation instead of keeping the same aggressiveness in all of the other sets.
 
First, it's finding a balance within themselves to understand their own emotions and adrenaline during pressured situations.
 
Secondly, it's to trust the system that was working and not playing in a tunnel vision where they forget to be in the moment.
 
Overall, I think this weekend is going to be very important for the growth of our team.
 
This is the first time our athletes have seen other girls that are not their teammates on the other side of the net.
 
They say the first week of competition is where you learn and grow the most. 
 
In conclusion, playing two teams that are Receiving Votes and National Ranked, who already had 4-5 matches, our brand new team proved that we can compete with the best. 
 
This is the new era of Westcliff Volleyball and within the past 3 season that I've been with the program, this team is easily the most talented.
 
The teams we played were better than ANY team that we played against last year, and bringing both games to 5-set is a testament to the direction where our program is going!"