The No. 7 seeded Point Loma volleyball team fell to the No. 2 seed Western Washington 25-23, 25-13 and 25-19 in the first round of the NCAA West Regional on Friday, Dec. 4.
The Sea Lions finish their season at 20-10, which included their first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament. WWU (24-5) will advance to the West Region semifinals on Saturday, where it will play the No. 6 seed, UC San Diego, which upset No. 3 seed Sonoma State earlier today.
Point Loma had its best opportunity to seize control of the match in the first set when it tied the match at 21-21, and had it serve and the momentum. However, PLNU’s serve went into the net and they just never seemed to recover. WWU finished out the match on a scoring four of the final six points, and carried that momentum right into the second set where the Vikings put PLNU away with a 6-1 run to start the match.
PLNU bounced back a bit in the third set, as they went in front 14-10, but again WWU answered. The Vikings rattled off 12 of the next 13 points to go up 22-15, and they went on to win the set 25-19.
Heather Leavitt led PLNU with her 24th double-double of the season. She had a game-high 14 kills and also posted 12 digs. Bethany Mandon was also in double-figures in kills with 11. Savannah Wedemeyer had 27 assists and Christin Fisher added 19 digs and six assists for the Sea Lions.
Abby Phelps hit .375 with 13 kills and just one error to lead WWU. She also led the team with 18 digs.
The Sea Lions could not solve the Vikings’ defense all match. The Sea Lions hit just .116 in the match (compared to .289 for WWU) and were outblocked 9.0 to 5.0.
“Western Washington is a very quality volleyball team,” said Point Loma’s second-year head coach Jonathan Scott. “They have been there before and they act like it. Their coaches do a great job and you have to hand it to them today.”
While PLNU did fall in the Regional, this was still considered to be a quality season for all those involved.
“This was another step in the direction we are going,” Scott explained, “but this is obviously not the endgame. We are not satisfied with the way the season ended.”
PLNU will lose six seniors that all played four seasons in the Green & Gold, and posted a 69-26 record and a 73 percent winning clip over their final three seasons.
“The last several seasons our team identity has been fairly consistent thanks to this group of six seniors,” said Scott. “Their careers are over and the Point Loma volleyball program will have a different feel to its identity going forward without them. It is definitely going to be tough. I am going to miss them all like crazy, but the program with our returners and incoming recruits is in very good hands. We are excited to continue on.”
