COSTA MESA -- Vanguard women's volleyball had an intense scrap with Westmont in Pacific West Conference play Friday night, but the Warriors prevailed in five sets.  The close-to-even match saw WC take the first two sets 26-24 and 25-22 before the Lions got on the board with 25-20 and 26-24 wins.  VU led in the fifth, but Westmont closed out on a hot streak to win 15-13 and improve to 10-14 overall and 4-6 in PacWest play.  VU dropped to 16-7, 4-5.
 
 
What Happened?  Though Morgan Cole opened proceedings with a kill, little separated the two teams.  Robinson and Kayla Henninger had strikes for the Lions, to gain a 5-3 advantage, but WC would roll off four points in a row to surge ahead 8-6.  Kills by Viktoria Dickson and Delaney Hill gave VU a 13-11 lead, with heaters off the hand of Adeline Galvanoni making it a 16-13 edge.  Westmont called a timeout, but it did not seem to help, as the Vanguard lead rose to 21-15, forcing WC to call another break.  But on this occasion, the timeout settled the Warriors, and despite a Henninger kill helping VU go ahead 23-19, WC scored on seven of the next eight rallies to usurp the set from Vanguard 26-24. The Lions hit .289 in the opening frame, while WC had a .320 margin, their best of the game.
 
Set Two: The Blue and Gold struck first through Robinson and remained ahead over the initial stages of the period, with a Julia Ringenberg dump and a tap by Robinson helping the home side to take a 7-5 lead.  Robinson and Galvanoni connected on strikes, and Dickson dished out an ace to put the lead at 10-6.  Westmont called a timeout, but Robinson struck down an overpass to keep Dickson serving.  However, Westmont used an 8-3 stretch to knot the set at 14-14.  Despite a Galvanoni slam, Westmont scored two more points to force the Lions to take a timeout down 16-15.  The Warriors negated Vanguard's first timeout with four of the next six points to force another VU timeout, as the Warriors led 20-17.  Two blocks by Delaney Hill and Robinson bookended an ace by Abby Lutterloh, as the Lions put three points on the board in a row to force Westmont to call for a timeout, as the frame was reset at 20-all.  Unfortunately, the Warriors had five of the next four rallies go their way, as the guests took the second period 25-22.  WC hit .061, while the Blue and Gold had a .051 mark.
 
Set Three: Westmont raised the curtain with a 3-1 interval and put a damper on the home crowd by soon leading 7-3.  Yet the Lions roused themselves with a 5-1 streak, with Cole pounding a ball to the deck and Hill slicing a kill to the hard wood in addition to a block to tie things at 8-8.  A trio of Westmont hits that were off the mark pushed the VU edge to 12-9, but the Warriors repaired their attack and soon had the period tied at 14-14.    In response, the Lions powered up with a 7-3 run, with Robinson, Cole, and Hill putting the VU lead to 21-17, forcing WC to take a timeout.  The pause did not help the Warriors, as Hill, Gotwals, and Robinson registered kills to give Vanguard the third set 25-20.  The Lions hit .294 in the third, while Westmont had a .098 clip.
 
Set Four: In another set that teetered both ways, the Lions forced a fifth set with a 26-24 decision.  A 4-0 start to the stanza saw Macy Kavanaugh get a kill, while some Westmont errors helped the home side.  VU was soon ahead 9-4, but Westmont slowly reeled in the Blue and Gold to cut the gap to 15-13.  In reply, Cole and Henninger thrashed down kills to establish an 18-13 lead.  A timeout by the Warriors allowed WC to regroup and charge back to tie things at 20-20.  However, the Lions kept a step in front of the Warriors, with Robinson and Gotwals making a huge block and Cole and Robinson mashing down kills.  Kate Fagundes set the table for Hill to feast, and the senior put it away to give VU the set 26-24.  The Lions hit .250, while Westmont hit .226.
 
Set Five: After the teams exchanged points, a WC attack error and kills by Galvanoni and Cole put the Lions ahead 4-2.  The VU edge remained at two points until Westmont took an 8- 6 hole and rolled off the next four points to lead 10-8.  A Vanguard rebuttal came next with three straight points, with Hill and Robinson registering kills.  Unfortunately, the Warriors again got a spark to close out the period, as the guests went on a 6-2 stretch to take the win 15-13. 
 
The Lions had a better hitting percentage than their opponents (.226-.195), but the rest of the team stats were close.    Each team had 70 kills and 83 points, while Westmont had a 6-3 lead in aces and a 92-88 edge in digs, and VU had a 10-7 advantage in blocks.  Cole led the Lions with 16 kills and all players with 27 digs for her 50th double-double of her VU career.  Robinson had a career-high 14 kills and had only one error on 24 swings (.542). Galvanoni had 12 kills and Hill chipped in 10.  Kavanaugh had 31 assists and Ringenberg had 21, while Kate Fagundes had 21 digs.  Henninger had five block assists, while Robinson had one solo stop and four helpers. 
 
 
What's Next?  The Lions go to bed tonight and take on Biola on the road at 7:00 p.m.