Riverside, Calif. - Despite a match-high 26 kills from Lina Semaia, the Golden Eagles women's volleyball team were unable to complete a comeback, in a loss to Westmont College, 25-27, 25-19, 25-23, 32-34, 15-10.
The Golden Eagles found themselves playing catch-up most of the match, after getting off to slow starts in three of the five sets.
La Sierra trailed by as many as six points in Set 1 and didn't catch the Warriors until they tied the score at 22-22, and eventually going on to win 27-25.
The Warriors got off to another quick start in Set 2, only to be caught at 7-7 early in the set. Westmont then took control of the set with a 13-5 run to take a 20-13, on their way to a 25-19 Set 2 victory.
Set 3 was the tightest of the five sets played, consisting of 11 ties. The Golden Eagles held the largest lead of the set for either team, 19-14, but were unable to answer an 11-3 run by Westmont to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The excitement continued into Set 4 with the Warriors jumping out to an 18-12 lead midway through the set, with the help of a 6-1 run. But this time it was La Sierra who fought their way back, once again catching the Warriors at 22-22. From that point on the two teams played back-and-forth, with each team surviving four match points. The Golden Eagles finally broke through on two straight kills by Robin Miller, who finished with 18 kills in the match, taking the set by a final of 34-32.
Westmont took control of the final set with a 4-0 run, leading at the changeover 8-4. That would be all the cushion they needed as they went on to win the set and the match, 15-10.
Jessica McCann led Westmont with 19 kills in the match. Sydney Striff and Taylor Beckman each added 13 kills and 11 kills, respectively.
The Warriors' Kami Troesh led all players with 30 digs, while Ciena Colburn led her team with four block assists.
Chantel Washington led the Golden Eagles in digs with 18, followed by R. Miller who added 14 digs and Erin Miller who had 10 digs.
As a team, La Sierra played a solid match at the net, compiling 16 total team blocks led by Abby Latuhoi who tallied three solo blocks and four block assists.
The non-conference loss drops the women's volleyball team to 5-13 on the season. They will step back into conference play this weekend when they travel to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Ariz.), on Saturday night. The Golden Eagles currently sit atop the Cal Pac standings with a record of 4-1.
