RED HAWK-DOWNED

By Brandon Petersen

The Westcliff women's volleyball team dropped the first leg of its road finale Thursday night at Simpson, falling in straight sets to a strong Red Hawks squad that was celebrating its Sr. Night.

The Warriors hung tight early but couldn't match Simpson's efficiency down the stretch, falling 25–19, 25–12, 25–13 at the James M. Grant Center.

Simpson hit .391 as a team and never trailed for long, riding strong performances from its Cal Pac award-winning core to close out the match.

Westcliff senior Samantha Carelock and junior Joliayns Roman led the Warriors with eight and seven kills, respectively, while setter Amanda Ferreira dished 17 assists and libero Daniela Sandoval anchored the back line with 14 digs.

"Simpson played really good today," head coach Greg Wakeham said. "We had some struggles. Jolie and Sam played well. They hit well, got a lot of kills. Rena (Serena Comer) did pretty good. It was just that Simpson's on a different level. That was the first half of their senior night, and their passing and serving were exceptional. Their hitters hit at a very high percentage. They didn't really give us any breaks or chances to take advantage of anything."

Wakeham credited Simpson's all-conference selections for validating their awards but added that his team's top performers held their own.

 "Sam also justified hers," he said. "Dani justified hers with lots of kills and digs. We'll play two more matches tomorrow, and we're fighting to get into the Continental Conference. We think Simpson's probably the strongest of that conference, and we're hoping to get selected by the committee and get ourselves to Kansas to see how we compete with the rest of the country."

The Warriors (11–13, 4–4) close their regular season Friday with matches against Pacific Union and Simpson.