JUSTICE SERVED

By Brandon Petersen

It didn't take long.

In just their third outing of the year, Westcliff women's volleyball matched last season's win total, powering past Justice in four sets, 25–15, 25–19, 20–25, 25–16, on Thursday night in Chandler, Ariz.

The victory marked the Warriors' (1–2) first of 2025, and it came with authority.

Westcliff hit .400 in the opening set, .435 in the second, and an emphatic .522 in the fourth to close the match.

"We had a great match with a newer program – Justice University," head coach Greg Wakeham said. "They made some errors that we were able to capitalize on, but they had a lot of energy, a great fanbase, and they will be very good in the future, so we are excited to see them again. We'll see them in Irvine in a month or so."

Westcliff's balance was evident. Samantha Carelock and Joliayns Roman were standouts, nearly splitting player-of-the-match honors.

Carelock delivered 12 kills, three aces and 15.5 points, while Roman tallied 11 kills, four aces and 15 points.

Stacy Folas added 10 kills on .435 hitting, Serena Comer chipped in seven kills and three aces, and setter Lauren Phinnessee guided the attack with 31 assists.

Libero Daniela Sandoval anchored the back line with 11 digs.

"What was fun about tonight was, we took the lessons we learned from yesterday's game and put them in place," Wakeham said. "And basically we call that trust in action. We got specific on what it means to trust each other, and what it means is we focus on the roles that we have, and not worry about the roles of other people. We saw that tonight. The attacks were much more effective. The passing was good and we had a lot of great digs."

The result carried extra weight for a program intent on proving it is no longer the same team from a year ago.

Matching last season's win total in just three matches offers a statement: this group is different.

"We're proud of the result, and we're looking forward to Embry-Riddle tomorrow," Wakeham said.

The Dubs will face their old Cal Pac rival Friday and venture to Yavapai College on Saturday before returning home to Orange County.